- Period
- Gothic
- Date
- c. 1214
- Collection
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object no.
- 1952.89
Reliquary of the True Cross
Unknown maker, c. 1214
Cleveland Museum of Art · Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund · Public domain
- Maker
- Unknown maker
- Date
- c. 1214
- Medium
- silver, gilded silver, niello, precious stones, walnut core
- Dimensions
- Overall: 44 x 31 x 4.7 cm (17 5/16 x 12 3/16 x 1 7/8 in.)
- Period
- Gothic
The record
Why it matters
A lengthy Latin inscription on the frame recounts the history of the central relic--a fragment of the True Cross--and provides an exact date for its container: "You who ask about the cross: read! The heir of Judas the priest/Stole it. But when, after boarding a ship,/He sought a mild breeze, a fierce storm opposed the sorry sailors./Out of his mind, he gnawed at his own hands./In the end the blessed Virgin spoke thus to him:/‘You shall soon be well, if you seek to return what was stolen.’/ He pays back this debt to the brothers of the Temple . . . When he died, they cast him overboard, and the storm subsided./Happy they arrive at Brindisi, quiet they have returned with the cross,/Which resides beautiful in this handsome panel. This tablet was created in the 1214th year from the Lord’s incarnation in the month of February."