id: 145192 accession number: 1970.36 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1970.36 updated: 2023-03-11 20:50:52.701000 Fragment of a Processional Cross, c. 1050. Byzantium, Constantinople, Byzantine period, 11th century. Silver gilt, niello; overall: 32.3 x 44.8 x 5.7 cm (12 11/16 x 17 5/8 x 2 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1970.36 title: Fragment of a Processional Cross title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1050 creation date earliest: 1000 creation date latest: 1100 current location: 105 Byzantine creditline: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund copyright: --- culture: Byzantium, Constantinople, Byzantine period, 11th century technique: silver gilt, niello department: Medieval Art collection: MED - Byzantine type: Metalwork find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 32.3 x 44.8 x 5.7 cm (12 11/16 x 17 5/8 x 2 1/4 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Glory of Byzantium opening date: 1997-03-03T00:00:00 The Glory of Byzantium. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (organizer) (March 3-July 6, 1997). title: Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2007-05-10T00:00:00 Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 13-June 7, 2009). title: Every People Under Heaven: Jerusalem, 1000–1400 opening date: 2016-09-19T00:00:00 Every People Under Heaven: Jerusalem, 1000–1400. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (September 19, 2016-January 8, 2017). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Washington D.C., Dumbarton Oaks: "Byzantine Figural Processional Crosses" September 23, 1994--January 29, 1995, exh. cat. no. 2. pp 68-75, fig. 26. --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: Byzantine processions were a feast for the senses. Imagine the scent of sweet and spicy incense wafting through the air, mingling with the sound of sacred chants as priests carry this cross in a procession during the service. digital description: wall description: Impressively large and elaborately embellished, the cross to which this fragment belonged was likely carried in liturgical processions. The central medallion on its front depicts Christ, flanked by medallions showing the Virgin and Saint John the Baptist. Together they form the Deesis, a powerful Byzantine image formula evoking these saints’ intercession with Christ on behalf of mankind. In the central medallion on the cross’s back is Saint Sabas, founder of an important monastery near Jerusalem, in whose honor the cross was made. He is surrounded by other monastic saints, thus indicating that the cross was likely used by a monastic community. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Evans, Helen C., and William D. Wixom. The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843-1261. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997. page number: Mentioned: p. 60-61; Reproduced: p. 61 url: Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 80-81, no. 22 url: Boehm, Barbara Drake and Melanie Hocomb, eds. Jerusalem, 1000-1400: Every People Under Heaven. NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016. page number: 89 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1970.36/1970.36_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1970.36/1970.36_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1970.36/1970.36_full.tif