Wooden Casket: Scenes from the Life of Christ
c. 1050
- Medium
- boxwood, copper-alloy, glass
- Classification
- Furniture and woodwork
- Dimensions
- Overall: 9 x 7.8 x 15.7 cm (3 9/16 x 3 1/16 x 6 3/16 in.)
- Culture
- Anglo-Saxon, England, West Midlands?, Romanesque period, 11th century
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Medieval Art
- Credit line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
This casket is a rare, if not unique example of high-quality woodcarving from Anglo-Saxon England. Decorated with scenes from Christ’s life, it was likely made for an ecclesiastical purpose and may have housed relics. On one long side, the Christ child rests in the manger. Above, the Crucifixion is shown with mourners gathered below the cross and two angels flanking it on either side. On the other long side is the Ascension, God’s hand pulling Christ heavenward. Christ in Majesty appears above. The short sides show Christ’s baptism and his entry into Jerusalem.
