id: 160970
accession number: 1999.229
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1999.229
updated: 2023-01-11 08:55:18.282000
Reliquary Box with Scenes from the Life of John the Baptist, 1300s. Byzantium, Constantinople, late Byzantine period, 14th century. Tempera and gold on wood; overall: 9 x 23.5 x 9 cm (3 9/16 x 9 1/4 x 3 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Bruce Ferrini in memory of Robert P. Bergman 1999.229
title: Reliquary Box with Scenes from the Life of John the Baptist
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1300s
creation date earliest: 1300
creation date latest: 1400
current location: 105 Byzantine
creditline: Gift of Bruce Ferrini in memory of Robert P. Bergman
copyright:
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culture: Byzantium, Constantinople, late Byzantine period, 14th century
technique: tempera and gold on wood
department: Medieval Art
collection: MED - Byzantine
type: Wood
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
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measurements: Overall: 9 x 23.5 x 9 cm (3 9/16 x 9 1/4 x 3 9/16 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
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PROVENANCE
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fun fact:
digital description:
wall description:
John the Baptist--the first person to recognize Christ as the promised savior and the one who baptized him in the Jordan River--was one of the Byzantine Empire’s most revered saints. This box shows four scenes from the saint’s life: John’s martyrdom, Christ’s baptism, John’s birth, and the announcement of his birth to his parents. It probably once housed one of the saint’s relics; several were kept in churches and monasteries in Constantinople, including fragments of his skull and right arm and locks of his blood-clotted hair.
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Cleveland Museum of Art, “Cleveland Museum of Art Acquires Rare Chinese Paintings, Baroque Porcelain Plaque and Other New Acquisitions Exhibited with Hanging Scrolls,” December 20, 1999, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
page number:
url: https://archive.org/details/cmapr4305
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. 90-91, no. 26
url:
Bagnoli, Martina. Treasures of heaven: saints, relics, and devotion in medieval Europe. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2010.
page number: Reproduced: cat. no. 52, p. 93
url:
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.229/1999.229_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.229/1999.229_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.229/1999.229_full.tif