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Workshop commissioned by OTTO I
Openwork Panel
Circa 968
© R.M.N.
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Workshop commissioned by OTTO I
Openwork Panel
Christ
Circa 968
Magdeburg Cathedral; XXXX; XXXX before 1909; former V. Martin le Roy collection.
Ivory
H. 1.28 m; W. 1.19 m; D. 0.008 m
J.-J. Marquet de Vasselot, purchased under order of 27 January 1993.
OA 6310, OA 11372
Decorative Arts
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| Bardoz Marie-Cécile |
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Openwork Panel |
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The Louvre has two panels from a group known as the Magdeburg Ivories, a set of sixteen panels given to the church of St. Maurice in Magdeburg by Emperor Otto I (d. 973), probably when it became a cathedral in 968. Differing in style, the two panels in the Louvre are the work of different artists employed in the same workshop, commissioned by Otto.
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An episode that is seldom depicted
The scene is set against a background pierced with crosses. A child stands in the center, surrounded by larger figures, among them the haloed Christ, who is leaning toward the child and pointing him out to the apostles, one of whom is recognizable as St. Peter. The scene comes from a relatively unfamiliar episode in the New Testament (and one seldom depicted in medieval iconography), when Christ calls a small child to him and says to the apostles: "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18: 1-6; Luke 9: 47-48).
The Magdeburg Ivories
The powerful modeling, geometrical forms, and compact composition identify this panel as one of the Magdeburg Ivories, of which sixteen survive today. They will originally have adorned an important item of church furnishing - an antependium, bishop's throne, or chancel door, for instance - and were donated to the abbey church of St. Maurice by Emperor Otto I (936-973), most likely when the abbey became a cathedral on the establishment of Magdeburg as an archbishopric in 968. Whatever its function, the original piece was dismantled not very long after, at the beginning of the eleventh century. That more than one artist was involved in carving the ivories can be seen by comparing this panel with the other one in the Louvre, which depicts the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes.
The Magdeburg Ivories combine influences from the Metz ivories of the second half of the ninth century (visible in the massive quality of the figures), with features characteristic of the Romanesque. The same synthesis can be seen in the late eleventh-century statuary of Toulouse, indicating the key role played by objets d'art as a source of inspiration to sculptors.
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Gaborit-Chopin Danielle, Nouvelles acquisitions du département des Objets d'art (1990-1994), Paris, Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1995, notice 17.
Gaborit-Chopin Danielle, Les ivoires médiévaux, Catalogue des collections du département des Objets d'art, Paris, Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, n 47, 2003.
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Decorative Arts : 
