The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Bulletin

Private Devotional Shrine (Hausaltirchen)
German (Swabia), about 1490
Wood, polychromy, and translucent glazes, with metal fixtures
Height, 13'/4 in. (33.5 cm)
The Cloisters Collection, 1991
I991.10
Pendant Capsule in the Form of a Tau Cross
English, about 1485
Cast and engraved gold
Height, i'/8 in. (z.8 cm)
The Cloisters Collection, I990
I990.z83
This pendant capsule in the form of a tau cross comprises
a cast, walled receptacle about two centimeters deep and a
facing plate fitted with a flange and a barrel closure. Engraved
on the obverse is the Trinity and, on the reverse, a standing
Virgin and Child. Under the angle of each arm is a rivet stem
that originally held a pearl. At the bottom edge of the cross is
a hole for suspending a small bell. The pendant was suspended
from a torc by a loop.
The tau cross was associated with the orders of Saint Anthony
Abbot. This capsule is probably best understood within the
context of an Antonite hospital, many of which were founded
to treat Saint Anthony's fire, a type of ergotism. This disease,
widespread in the late fifteenth century, was caused by the
consumption of spoiled rye. Symptoms included inflamed
nerves, swollen joints, burning stomachaches, boils, and
gangrene. This capsule may have contained an amulet or other
apotropaic material to ward off the disease, but, more probably,
it held an allopathic herbal compound. Plants classified by
humor as cold and dry, such as verbena, sage, plantain, and
poppy, were considered efficacious as a treatment for the
burning heat symptomatic of the disease.
The stance of the Virgin, with the Child on her right side, the
wrapping of her mantle around the Child, and the twist of
folds around her lower legs all appear to be idiosyncrasies
of late fifteenth-century English style. The enthroned Trinity
also seems to be favored in English engraving. The variety of
angled cuts and cross-hatchings that reflect light in contrasting
patterns brings to the surface an illusion of exceptional depth
and sculptural volume.
Found in a field at Winteringham, South Humberside, on
August 27, I989, the cross shows almost no wear, indicating
that it was lost early in its history.
Of great rarity and appeal, this small and exceptionally well
preserved devotional shrine replicates in miniature the form of
a Late Gothic carved altarpiece. In the center Saint Anne holds
the diminutive Virgin and the Christ Child (a Holy Kinship).
Flanking this group are the donatrix and the donor. On
the outside of the wings are Saints Ursula and Dorothea;
on the inside, Saints Catherine and Barbara; on the predella
is the Sudarium.
The predominance of female subjects suggests that a woman
commissioned the shrine. Contrary to convention, she had
herself rather than her husband positioned in the place of
honor to the right of the holy group. The iconography is
likewise somewhat unorthodox. Saint Catherine, for example,
is depicted with a book rather than a wheel, while Saint
Barbara is shown with a chalice and the eucharist rather than
the more conventional tower. The uncommon hairshirt worn
by the donor may indicate that he was a member of a lay
penitent order.
The painted figure style can be generally localized to the Allgau-
Bodensee region of Swabia, roughly from Augsburg to
Constance. Characteristic of the region are the elongated figures,
small heads with weak chins and thick necks, faces with high
foreheads and intense eyes, as well as drapery falling in long
tubular folds interrupted by occasional, unrealistically crumpled
passages. The attenuated bodies, head types, and long separate
tresses can be associated, more specifically, with the Strigel
workshop. The simplified, rational drapery patterns and restrained
figural style reflect, on the other hand, the influence
of Hans Holbein the Elder. Although stylistically similar,
the figure of Saint Anne is more balanced in proportion
and the drapery is more conventionally arranged.
The interior surfaces of the shrine are essentially untouched, and
preservation of the fragile translucent glazes is most remarkable.
TBH
Ex coll.: Rudolf Braun (until I836); Peter Vischer-Passavant, Schloss
Wildenstein, near Bubendorf (Baselland); by descen to Peter Vischer-
Milner-Gibson (until I989); [Albrecht Neuhaus, Wiirzburg].
Bibliography: Old Master Pictures from Schloss Wildenstein, Baselland,
Switzerland (sale cat.), Christie's, London, July 6, 1990, p. 30,
lot 14.
TBH
Bibliography: European Sculpture and Works of Art (sale cat.),
Sotheby's, London, July 5, 1990, pp. o0-I I, lot 9.
20