Date: c. 980 Place of Production: Germany Description: 74cm-tall sculpture of the Virgin holding the infant Jesus, made from a wooden core covered with sheets of gold. It is one of the oldest known full-length, free-standing sculptures of the Madonna in the medieval West. Held at: Essen Cathedral Treasury Image 1 licensed under CC BY 2.5. Image by Arnoldius. Image…
Date: 10th–11th century Place of Production: Unknown, found in Oxford, UK Description: Six twisted gold rods form a finger ring, in a style typical of Viking jewellery. The ring gets smaller towards the back, where the rods have been beaten flat together. Held at: British Museum Accession Number: 1905,1108.1 Images licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA…
Date: 10th century Place of Production: Unknown, found in Buckinghamshire, UK Description: Twisted gold rods form a circular arm band, in a style typical of VIking jewellery. This particularly fine example was likely worn by a male. This type of arm band was worn as jewellery but could also serve as portable bullion. Held at: British…
Date: 10th century Place of Production: England, found in Faversham Description: This cast gold ring has at its centre a Roman carnelian intaglio, a typical example of the use and re-use of precious gems in the early medieval period. Although quite badly worn, much of the decoration is still visible, including seven elongated oval leaves, filigree…
Date: 10th century Place of Production: Germany Description: This wooden case originally housed a copy of the four gospels. Its cover is decorated with gilt; a cross shape punctuates the page adorned with gem stones, and divides it into four quarters, each of which is decorated with the animals that represent each of the four evangelists. At the…
Date: c. 1000 (base is 14th century) Place of Production: Germany, probably Cologne Description: The Lothar Cross, is named after the large rock crystal cameo of the Carolingian ruler of Lotharingia Lothar II (near its base). The cross itself was wrought in gold almost a century after Lothar’s rule, by one of the Ottonian dynasty (possibly Otto…
Date: 11th- to 12th-century Place of Production: Reichenau/Paderborn, Germany Description: Portable altars were used by Christians to celebrate the Mass while traveling. On one long side is depicted the Baptism of Christ, attended by a veiled woman, possibly representing the Church, and Christ in Majesty, surrounded by Evangelist symbols. On the other long side, John the Baptist…
Date: 10th- or 11th-Century Place of Production: Germany Description: This ring consists of multiple elements soldered together to create a rich, micro-architectural form, a feature typical of Ottonian goldsmithing. The varied techniques used in its fabrication resulted in areas of granulation, swabbed and twisted wires, and ribbons of bent wire, as well as cast, punched, and chased…
Date: 970-1030 Place of Production: probably Northern Italy Description: This brooch in the shape of a star is decorated with miniature architectural forms constructed of fine gold filigree and granulation. Within the gold setting are pearls, glass and cloisonné enamelwork. Held at: Metropolitan Museum of New York Accession Number: 17.191.7 Images in Public Domain
Date: 950-1000 (brooch); 337-50 (intaglio sapphire) Place of Production: Ottonian Empire (brooch); Eastern Roman Empire (intaglio sapphire) Description: Jewels conceived of as microarchitecure are one of the distinctive hallmarks of Ottonian goldsmiths’ work. This brooch is composed of a series of arcaded gold cells, linked together to form a star, but its definite horizontal and vertical axes, in…
