Description
This elaborate, enameled plaque was once attached to the cover of a Gospel book or a lectionary, a manuscript containing passages from the four Gospels arranged to be read throughout the year. At the center, Christ is flanked by the Virgin and St. John. Adam's skull, below, symbolizes the salvation of mankind through Christ's crucifixion on Golgotha, the reputed site of Adam's grave.
Provenance
Frédéric Spitzer, Paris, by purchase; Sale, Paul Chevallier and Charles Mannheim, Paris, April 17, 1893, no. 256; Léguillon, Paris, by purchase; Sale,
Hôtel Drouot, Paris, December 9, 1895, no. 7; Heinrich Wencke, Hamburg, by purchase; Sale, J. M. Heberle, Cologne, October 27, 1898, no. 130; Dimitri Schevitch, Madrid, by purchase; Sale, Galerie George Petit, Paris, April 4, 1906, no. 183; Jacques Seligmann, Paris, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, May 16, 1906, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Inscriptions
Text in gilded copper on cross above Christ's head: I H S/ X P~S; [Transcription] IH[ESU]S CHR[ISTU]S; [Translation] Jesus Christ. In this inscription, the titulus (the long horizontal mark indicating an abbreviation) has an unusual placement between the P and the S to abbreviate the initials XPS for Christ.
