Processional cross

Unknown

ca. 1460–80 · Partly gilt silver, niello, and copper with traces of gilding, over wood · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Inscriptions on the back of this object indicate that it served as the repository for a relic believed to be a fragment of the True Cross and that it is thought to have been made for a convent of the Poor Clares, probably in Florence. It is an extraordinary example of Florentine Renaissance metalwork, incorporating within its silver-gilt frame a series of twenty silver plaques with nielloed scenes depicting the Passion of Christ and various saints.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1460–80

Medium

Partly gilt silver, niello, and copper with traces of gilding, over wood

Culture

Italian, Florence

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917