BACK TO GALLERY
Blumka
Christ on the Road to Calvary
Made in the technique of “ronde-bosse enameling,” with shimmering colors and beautiful details
2.5 x 1.75 inches (6.4 x 4.5 cm)
description
The relief depicts Christ in a purple robe kneeling under the weight of the cross. He is just leaving the city of Jerusalem on the way to Mount Golgotha where the crucifixion is to take place. Two of the party on the far left are the Virgin Mary and St. John, standing below the arch of a building. They and three more companions are dressed in violet, blue, turquoise and green robes, all contributing to the color dynamics of the relief. In the background, there is a hill with a castle on top, as well as a translucent blue sky. The vegetation in the foreground is modelled in the round.
The relief is made using the technique of “ronde-bosse enameling.” In such works, a goldsmith carved the figures out of gold or silver (hammered or cast) and then coated them with a glass paste that is then melted into “enamel”. The figures would then be placed onto a silver or gold plate, on which the colored, mostly translucent glass forming the background, is melted between gold bars. The color palette for our relief ranges from transparent blue and green for the background, over opaque white for the faces, to turquoise, cobalt, purple and green for the robes. These precious shimmering colors give the small relief an incomparably noble character; even the curly hair is made of gold shavings.
The Carrying of the Cross is a traditional scene from the Passion of Christ. Our enamel plaque was originally part of a series comprising several scenes. Four other gold enamel works from this series belong to the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Those plaques are the same size, with a round finish at the top, and are comparable in artistic execution. The character of the faces and robes, the treatment of the background with white, gold-ornamented architecture, right down to details such as the plants made of emerald-green as well as the small-scale leaves on gold wire in the foreground, speak to belonging to the same group. These Scenes from the Passion could have adorned a reliquary box or a case. Yet another enamel plaque, also with an oval finish and depicting Christ in front of Pilate, also fits into this group. This email was attached to a pax board at a later date and was donated to the Louvre in Paris in 1901 by Adolph de Rothschild.
The relief is made using the technique of “ronde-bosse enameling.” In such works, a goldsmith carved the figures out of gold or silver (hammered or cast) and then coated them with a glass paste that is then melted into “enamel”. The figures would then be placed onto a silver or gold plate, on which the colored, mostly translucent glass forming the background, is melted between gold bars. The color palette for our relief ranges from transparent blue and green for the background, over opaque white for the faces, to turquoise, cobalt, purple and green for the robes. These precious shimmering colors give the small relief an incomparably noble character; even the curly hair is made of gold shavings.
The Carrying of the Cross is a traditional scene from the Passion of Christ. Our enamel plaque was originally part of a series comprising several scenes. Four other gold enamel works from this series belong to the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Those plaques are the same size, with a round finish at the top, and are comparable in artistic execution. The character of the faces and robes, the treatment of the background with white, gold-ornamented architecture, right down to details such as the plants made of emerald-green as well as the small-scale leaves on gold wire in the foreground, speak to belonging to the same group. These Scenes from the Passion could have adorned a reliquary box or a case. Yet another enamel plaque, also with an oval finish and depicting Christ in front of Pilate, also fits into this group. This email was attached to a pax board at a later date and was donated to the Louvre in Paris in 1901 by Adolph de Rothschild.
SEND AN EMAIL