The Crucifixion

This ivory plaque depicts the Crucifixion. It is perhaps lower Rhenish or Flemish and made at the beginning of the 12th century. Christ hangs on the cross, his feet resting on a suppedaneum; below is a tiny figure, probably Satan or Adam, holding one end of a rope which binds the feet of Christ. To left and right stand the Virgin and St. John in attitudes of grief, and above the arms of the cross two angels issue from clouds. The ground is represented by foliate scrolls; a border of acanthus palmettes surrounds the whole.