Cleveland Museum of Art

Altar Cross with Stand

Date

1140–1150

Medium

bronze: cast, gilded, engraved, and chased

Culture

Germany, Lower Saxony, Hildesheim?, Romanesque period, 12th century

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

From the 11th century onward, altar crosses like this one often featured elaborate bases. The most impressive decoration of this cross is its stand: a lavish array of intertwining scrolls emerges from three pawlike legs, while birds perch amid the scrolls and dragon heads sprout from others.

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