On view
European Art
Tabernacle door,
late 15th century
Artist unidentified
German
y1957-60
If consecrated hosts, the wafers believed to be the body of Christ, are not consumed during the Mass, they are stored inside a tabernacle for two purposes: for use during the Communion of the sick and as a focal point for veneration. To emphasize the restorative nature of the body of Christ, the artist who made this tabernacle door engaged with common metaphors describing the cross as a living plant and equating Christ’s flesh and blood with the fruit, sap, and resin produced by trees. With the shallow relief of the cross receding into the panel, Christ and the wood are conflated into a tree of life bursting with exuberant decoration.
More About This Object
Information
Title
Tabernacle door
Dates
late 15th century
Maker
Medium
Wood
Dimensions
38.1 × 26 × 4.5 cm (15 × 10 1/4 × 1 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, gift of the Friends of The Art Museum
Object Number
y1957-60
Place Made
Europe, Germany
Culture
Type
Materials
Subject
Robert Piloty, Würzberg (1863-1926), by 1902.[1]
Mathias Komor, New York (1909-1984);
Gift of the Friends of the Museum (purchased from the above). [2]
[1] Henner, "Altfränkische Bilder"
[2] Curatorial Files
- Frances Follin Jones, "Recent aquisitions of Ancient Art", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University, 17, no. 1 (1958): p. 41–43., p. 43
- Robert A. Koch, "A Gothic sculpture of the Ascending Christ", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 19, no. 1 (1960): p. 37-43., p. 38
- Reflections of the passion: selected works from the Princeton University Art Museum: March 9-June 9, 2002, (New York: Princeton University Art Museum, 2002)., cat. no. 6
