Liturgical Polyvalence and the Potential of Performance: Reassessing the London-Berlin Cross Lindsay Corbett The Department of Art History and Communication Studies, McGill University, Montréal April 2017 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of a Master’s of Arts (Art History). © Lindsay Corbett, 2017 2 Table of Contents 1. Abstract………………………………………………………………………………….....3 2. Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………...4 3. List of Figures…....……………………………………………………………..……….…5 4. Introduction…..………………………………………………………………………….…7 5. Beyond the Workshop: Mobile Artists and Materials…………….…………………....…10 6. Iconography: Typology and the Invention of the Cross..……………………................…13 7. The Stavelot Triptych: Consistencies and Inconsistencies……………………………..…16 8. Beyond Iconography: Altars, Processions, and Relics………………..……………..……20 9. The Moment of Unveiling: The London-Berlin Cross and Good Friday Ritual…...…..…31 10. Conclusion………..……………………………………………………………..……...…41 11. Figures………..…………..……………………………………………………………….43 12. Bibliography……...……………………………………………………………..……..….56 3 Abstract Unique amongst surviving examples of Mosan metalwork, the London-Berlin Cross is the only Mosan enameled cross that preserves both its front and back plates. Yet, without its original core, scholarship has focused exclusively on questions of workshop style or iconographic developments in the twelfth century. Based on stylistic and iconographic similarities with other Mosan objects, most scholars hypothesize that the London-Berlin Cross once functioned as a reliquary for the True Cross. Iconography alone, however, does not provide strong enough evidence of its original function. This thesis offers a more extensive consideration of the London- Berlin Cross’s liturgical role and its many potential uses. An examination into the material affordances of enamel and the artistic traditions from which it emerges, coupled with the roles of liturgical crosses in the twelfth century, reveal how objects such as the London-Berlin Cross effaced the boundaries that their modern titles often prescribe. Ultimately, this thesis demonstrates that the London-Berlin Cross was a polyvalent object that accommodated the manifold demands of the medieval liturgy. Parmis les pièces d'art mosane ayant survécu au passage du temps, la croix Londres-Berlin est unique car c'est la seule croix émaillée dont les plaques d'avant et d'arrière sont encore existantes. Sans son corps originel, les chercheurs hésitent à examiner la croix Londres-Berlin au- delà de la citer comme exemple d'un style d'atelier d'art mosan ou du développement iconographique dans le XIIe siècle. Partageant des similarités iconographiques et étant basé stylistiquement avec d'autres objets contemporains, les chercheurs ont comme hypothèse que la croix Londres-Berlin aurait fonctionnée jadis comme un reliquaire pour la Vraie-Croix. Toutefois, cette thèse suggère un regard dans la fonction liturgique de la croix Londres-Berlin pour mieux considérer le potentiel de ses utilisations. Je considère comment les objets ont effacé les limites que leurs titres prescrivent souvent en considérant les propriétés matérielles de l'émail et les traditions artistiques dont il en émerge, associées aux rôles des croix liturgiques au XIIe siècle. Cette thèse démontre que la croix Londres-Berlin était un objet polyvalent qui accomodaient les multiples demandes de la liturgie médiévale. 4 Acknowledgements For her outstanding her supervision, I would like to begin by thanking Professor Cecily Hilsdale. The completion of this thesis is owed to her guidance, patience, generosity, pedagogy, and extensive knowledge of all things medieval. Her influence and support over the past two years far exceeded my expectations, and I am most grateful to have had the opportunity to work so closely with her. At McGill University, I wish to extend thanks to several professors whose seminars were integral the shaping of this work—to Professors Angela Vanhaelen, Chriscinda Henry, Mary Hunter, and Jonathan Sterne, for their erudite advice, continuous support, and for fostering the exploration and development of many of the methodologies presented in the following thesis. Furthermore at Queen’s University, I would like to thank Professor Allison Sherman, under whose teaching I originally fell in love with the Middle Ages, on our summer excursions to Padua and Ravenna. I am also grateful towards McGill’s Department of Art History and Communication Studies, and Media@McGill, for their financial contributions towards my research. To my family at home, JoAnn Corbett, Mackenzie Corbett, Patricia Schotsch, Betty Corbett, Roy Corbett, Richard Schotsch, Shirley Schotsch, and Shelby Ludington, I am forever grateful for your unconditional love and encouragement. I also thank my family in Montréal, Kyrstin Felts, Marianne Cole, Steph Caskenette, and Maria Chatzifilalithis, for it was with your unbridled support, numerous puns, and constant friendship that made these past two years as fruitful as they were. Moreover, I would like to express my gratitude to the many other members of my cohort at McGill whose brilliance has inspired me along the way. Lastly, to Simon Laforge-Chalifour, who was my unwavering partner and rock throughout this whole process—thank you for always encouraging me to achieve my dreams. 5 List of Figures: Fig. 1—London-Berlin Cross, London-side, 1160-70, copper alloy (gilded), enamel (champlevé and cloisonné), rock crystal on silver backing, lapis lazuli, garnet, amethyst, rock crystal, 37.4 cm x 25.6 cm, the British Museum, London. Fig. 2—London-Berlin Cross, Berlin-side, 1160-70, copper alloy (gilded), enamel (champlevé and cloisonné), rock crystal on silver backing, lapis lazuli, garnet, amethyst, rock crystal, 37.5 cm x 26 cm, Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Fig. 3—London-Berlin Cross, London-side featuring sixteenth-century additions, 1160-70, copper alloy (gilded), enamel (champlevé and cloisonné), rock crystal on silver backing, lapis lazuli, garnet, amethyst, rock crystal, 37.4 cm x 25.6 cm, the British Museum, London. Fig. 4—Stavelot Triptych, ca. 1156-58, gilded copper with champlevé and cloisonné enamel, silver, émail brun, and semiprecious stones, 48.4 cm x 66 cm x 8cm, Morgan Library and Museum, New York. Fig. 5—Stavelot Triptych, Byzantine triptych details, ca. 1156-58, gilded copper with champlevé and cloisonné enamel, silver, émail brun, and semiprecious stones, 48.4 cm x 66 cm x 8cm, Morgan Library and Museum, New York. Fig. 6—North Lunette, detail of angels with triumphal cross, 547, mosaic, San Vitale, Ravenna. Fig. 7—Apse Mosaic, detail of triumphal cross, fifth century, Santa Pudenziana, Rome. Fig. 8—Lothar Cross of Otto III, ca. 985-91, Aachen, Palace Chapel Treasury. Fig. 9—Altar Cross of Abbess Theophanu, ca. 1024-39, Borghorst, St. Nicomedes. Fig. 10—Cross of Otto I, Duke of Bavaria and Swabia, and Mathilde, Abbess of Essen Abbey, (front), 973-82, Essen Minster Treasury. Fig. 11—Cross of Otto I, Duke of Bavaria and Swabia, and Mathilde, Abbess of Essen Abbey, donation plaque detail, 973-82, Essen Minster Treasury. Fig. 12—Heinrich Cross, 1000-50 (with later additions), gold filigree, silver pearls, glass cabochons, chalcedony cameo, rock crystal, amethyst, garnet, gilded silver and copper, wood oak core with iron armatures, 51.2 cm x 46.2 cm, Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. 6 Fig. 13—St. Omer Cross-Foot, ca. 1150-60, from the Abbey of Saint-Bertin, Musée de l’hôtel Sandelin. Fig. 14—Lobbes Phylactery, ca. 1160, gilded copper, émail brun, champlevé enamel, gems, rock crystal, wood, 22.5 cm x 22cm x 3cm, Private Collection, United Kingdom. Fig. 15—London-Berlin Cross, Helena worshipping at the True Cross detail, 1160-70, copper alloy (gilded), enamel (champlevé and cloisonné), rock crystal on silver backing, lapis lazuli, garnet, amethyst, rock crystal, 37.5 cm x 26 cm, Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Fig. 16: London-Berlin Cross, Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph detail, 1160-70, copper alloy (gilded), enamel (champlevé and cloisonné), rock crystal on silver backing, lapis lazuli, garnet, amethyst, rock crystal, 37.4 cm x 25.6 cm, the British Museum, London. Fig. 17: London-Berlin Cross, Sacrifice of the Passover Lamb detail, 1160-70, copper alloy (gilded), enamel (champlevé and cloisonné), rock crystal on silver backing, lapis lazuli, garnet, amethyst, rock crystal, 37.4 cm x 25.6 cm, the British Museum, London. 7 “You who ask about the Cross: Read!” —inscription, reliquary of the Cross, Rhine or Meuse, ca. 12141 Introduction In 2011, two long-separated medieval enamel plaques were brought together for the Treasures of Heaven exhibition in Baltimore, Cleveland, and London (Figs. 1-2).2 The purpose of the exhibition was to examine medieval relics through the gathering of “the physical things of holy men and women, and the things associated with them.”3 The two plates were displayed during the exhibition as an example of a cross-shaped reliquary from the esteemed twelfth-century Mosan workshops. Paired together, they are published in the exhibition’s corresponding catalogue and labeled “Reliquary Cross Front,” and “Reliquary Cross Back.”4 Despite these titles, their detailed description is more tentative in its attribution, and such tentativeness bears significant implications for how we understand the object as a whole.5 While the two enamel plaques undoubtedly once adorned a cross, it remains a matter of debate whether