William I Penny
Date: 1066 Place of Production: London, England Description: Silver penny minted by William the Conqueror, approx. 1.9 x 0.1 cm Held at: Metropolitan Museum of New York Accession Number: 2007.245.1 Images in Public Domain
Christ in Glory with Keys
Date: c. 1050 Place of Production: Germany(?) Description: An ivory panel depicting Christ, with a halo above him. Here, he sits upon a globe with a book in his left hand and two keys in his right. Held at: British Museum Accession Number: 1856,0623.28 Images released under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)…
Pyxis
Date: 10th Century Place of Production: Spain Description: This cylindrical box, known as a pyxis (Arabic ushnan), would have been used to store aromatics and cosmetics. Adorned with secular imagery, it includes interwoven vines and geometrically symmetrical birds enclosed within heart-shaped compartments, sheltered under a canopy of wide leaves.This example belongs to a group of…
The Adoration of the Magi
Date: c.985–c.990 Place of Production: Germany(?) Description: This panel depicts two Magi presenting their gifts to Christ and the Virgin Mary, who were presumably originally on the left-hand panel along with the third Magus. The panel is decorated with an acanthus border, a popular motif in this period, while buildings decorate the background of…
Christ and the Symbols of the Four Evangelists
Date: c. 1050 Place of Production: Fulda, Germany(?) Description: Haloed Christ, at the centre of the carving, stretches out his hands to show his wounds. He is flanked by the symbols of the four evangelists (Matthew the man, Mark the lion, Luke the bull, and John the eagle). The little objects adorning the central panel…
Raising of the Son of the Widow of Nain
Date: 960s Place of Production: Milan, Italy Description: A haloed Christ, followed by a number of his disciples, appears at the bier of the widow’s son. Mourners and coffin-bearers feature on the right-hand side, while the background is in a style known as ‘open work’, and is decirated with crosses. Held at: British Museum Accession Number:…
Christ Raises Lazarus from the Dead
Date: c.900–1100 Place of Production: Venice, Italy Description: In this panel Christ, depicted with a halo second from the left, walks with his hand raised and a staff in his left hand. One of his apostles follows him, while Mary and Martha are on the right of the panel, one kneeling in supplication. To the…
Holy Women at the Sepulchre
Date: Early 10th Century Place of Production: Milan(?), Northern Italy Description: This extremely detailed plaque probably originated as a decoration for a manuscript. In the panel, we see three holy women travelling to anoint the body of Jesus held in the sepulchre (the building at the centre of the panel). To their left, an angel…
Disc Brooch
Date: Late 9th/Early 10th Century Place of Production: Germany or England Description: This brooch was found in Northumberland, and is made of brass. In its centre, a bird stands with a branch in its beak surrounded by champlevé enamel. Held at: British Museum Accession Number: 1880,0802.165 Images courtesy of the British Museum under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0…
The Hand of God
Date: Late 10th/Early 11th Century Place of Production: Germany or England Description: Found in England, this gold and enamel roundel presents the viewer with a vision of the Hand of God pointing downwards – the hand emerges from the blue enamel clouds, separated by a gold cuff. The remainder of the roundel is decorated with…