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Plaque from a Chasse for Relics of Saint Thomas Becket
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
On December 29, 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket was brutally murdered in Canterbury Cathedral. The immediate popularity of Becket’s cult is reflected in the large number of enamel reliquaries produced in late 12th- and early 13th-century Limoges workshops to house relics associated with the archbishop, who was canonized only three years after his death. This plaque, which pairs a scene depicting the Martyrdom of Thomas Becket with one of Christ’s Crucifixion, once formed the principal face of such a reliquary.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit linePlaque from a Chasse for Relics of Saint Thomas Becket, 1220–25. Master G. Alpais (French), and Workshop. Copper: gilded and engraved; champlevé enamel; overall: 16.9 x 28.5 x 0.5 cm (6 5/8 x 11 1/4 x 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1951.449
