id: 126030 accession number: 1948.25 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1948.25 updated: 2022-03-08 10:00:30.694000 Altar Front, c. 540-600. Early Byzantium, Constantinople or Ravenna, Byzantine period, 6th century. Marble; overall: 101 x 169.5 x 25.5 cm (39 3/4 x 66 3/4 x 10 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1948.25 title: Altar Front title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 540-600 creation date earliest: 540 creation date latest: 600 current location: 105 Byzantine creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: early Byzantium, Constantinople or Ravenna, Byzantine period, 6th century technique: marble department: Medieval Art collection: MED - Byzantine type: Sculpture find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 101 x 169.5 x 25.5 cm (39 3/4 x 66 3/4 x 10 1/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe opening date: 2010-10-17T00:00:00 Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 17, 2010-January 17, 2011); The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD (February 13-May 15, 2011); The British Museum, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (June 23-October 9, 2011). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Originally from S. Carlino (formerly S. Fabiano and S. Sebastiano), Ravenna date: footnotes: citations: Villa Lovatelli near Ravenna date: footnotes: citations: Villa Landau near Florence, Finaly Collection date: footnotes: citations: (Adolph Loewi, Los Angeles), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?-1948 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1948- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: This marble altar was likely in a Byzantine church that was opulently decorated with mosaics, rich textiles, and gilded lamps. Worshipers would have witnessed the rituals of faith that occurred at the altar, enshrined behind a barrier called a templon, and accessible only to the clergy. digital description: wall description: This carved marble panel resembles the front of an Early Byzantine sarcophagus, or coffin. While its decoration is typical of those produced in the Italian city of Ravenna during the 500s, its size is considerably smaller, indicating that the panel may instead have been made as an altar front. It is likely that the small window between the center columns with its opened curtains once allowed the faithful to contemplate a precious reliquary placed inside. The decorative repertoire of the panel includes both architectural forms--arches, pediments, and columns--and a number of symbols commonly found in Early Christian art including scallop shells, lambs, palms, and crosses that represent the concepts of life, the sacrifice of Christ, victory over death, and eternal life. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Miner, Dorothy Eugenia. Studies in Art and Literature for Belle Da Costa Greene. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1954. page number: pp 132-142 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 83 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n29 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 37 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n61 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 37 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n59 Brandenburg, Hugo. "Ein frühchristliches Relief in Berlin: Taf. 66-80". Mitteilungen des deutschen archaeologischen Instituts roemische Abteilung, Band 79 (1972) page number: pp. 126-128, plate 79 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 38 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n58 Klein, Holger. "Himmlische Schatze: Eine internationale Ausstellung in den USA und Großbritanien widmet sich der Geschichte christlicher Reliquien und Reliquiare von der Spätantike bis zur frühen Neuzeit" Das Münster 63 (2010) page number: url: Bagnoli, Martina. Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval Europe. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2010. page number: No. 17, pp. 17-18 url: Markiewicz, Philippe. "Reliques et Reliquaires: Une Approche Chretienne du Sacre" Arts Sacrés No. 13, (Sept/Oct 2011) page number: pp. 48-53 url: Fliegel, Stephen N., and Stephen N. Fliegel. A Higher Contemplation: Sacred Meaning in the Christian Art of the Middle Ages. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2012. page number: p. 19 url: Jäggi, Carola. Ravenna: Kunst und Kultur einer spätantiken Residenzstadt : die Bauten und Mosaiken des 5. und 6. Jahrhunderts. 2013. page number: url: Pentcheva, Bissera V. Hagia Sophia: Sound, Space, and Spirit in Byzantium. University Park: PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2017. page number: Reproduced: p. 53, fig. 23; p. 54, fig . 24 url: Gertsman, Elina and Barbara H. Rosenwein. The Middle Ages in 50 Objects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. page number: Mentioned: p. 6-9; Reproduced: p. 7 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.25/1948.25_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.25/1948.25_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.25/1948.25_full.tif