The Middle Ages in 50 Objects

The extraordinary array of images included in this volume reveals the full and rich history of the Middle Ages. Exploring material objects from the European, Byzantine and Islamic worlds, the book casts a new light on the cultures that formed them, each culture illuminated by its treasures. The objects are divided among four topics: The Holy and the Faithful; The Sinful and the Spectral; Daily Life and Its Fictions, and Death and Its Aftermath. Each section is organized chronologically, and every object is accompanied by a penetrating essay that focuses on its visual and cultural significance within the wider context in which the object was made and used. Spot maps add yet another way to visualize and consider the significance of the objects and the history that they reveal. Lavishly illustrated, this is an appealing and original guide to the cultural history of the Middle Ages.

ISBN-13: 9781107150386

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Publication Date: 05-31-2018

Pages: 248

Product Dimensions: 7.40(w) x 9.70(h) x 1.20(d)

Elina Gertsman is Professor of Medieval Art at Case Western Reserve University. She is the author of The Dance of Death in the Middle Ages: Image, Text, Performance (2010) and Worlds Within: Opening the Medieval Shrine Madonna (2015), and editor of several books, including Visualizing Medieval Performance: Perspectives, Histories, Contexts (2008) and Crying in the Middle Ages: Tears of History (2013). Most recently, with Stephen Fliegel, she published a catalogue that accompanies the focus exhibition they co-curated at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Myth and Mystique: Cleveland's Gothic Table Fountain (2016). Barbara H. Rosenwein, Professor Emerita Loyola University, Chicago, is a medievalist and a recognized authority on the history of emotions. She is the author of Emotional Communities in the Early Middle Ages (2006), Generations of Feeling: A History of Emotions, 600–1700 (2016), and has just completed (with co-author Riccardo Cristiani) What Is the History of Emotions? (2017). Her textbooks, A Short History of the Middle Ages (2009) and Reading the Middle Ages: Sources from Europe, Byzantium, and the Islamic World (2006) are currently going into new editions.

Table of Contents

Part I: The Holy and the Faithful: 1. Jonah Cast Up, c.280–290, marble; 2. Altar Front, c.540–600, marble; 3. Pilgrim's Flask with Saint Menas, 6th–7th century, terracotta; 4. Calyx (Chalice), 900s–1000s, blood jasper (heliotrope) with gilt-copper mounts; 5. Christ's Mission to the Apostles, c.970–980, ivory; 6. Feline Incense Burner, 1100s, copper alloy, cast and chased; 7. Leaf from a Qur'an, 1100s, opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper; 8. Arm Reliquary of the Apostles, c. 1190, gilt silver, champlevé enamel, oak; 9. Virgin and Child, late 13th century; wood (oak) with polychromy and gilding; 10. Christ and Saint John the Evangelist, early 14th century, polychromed and gilded oak; 11. The Coronation of the Virgin with the Trinity, c.1400, oil on panel; 12. Christ Carrying the Cross, 1400s, painted and gilded alabaster; 13. Leaf from an Antiphonary: Initial H with the Nativity, c.1480, ink, tempera and gold on vellum; Part II. The Sinful and the Spectral: 14. Adam and Eve, late 400s-early 500s, marble and stone tesserae; 15. Curtain Panel with Scenes of Merrymaking, 6th Century, undyed linen and dyed wool; 16. Plaque from a Portable Altar Showing the Crucifixion, 1050–1100, walrus ivory; 17. Dragon's Head, 1100–1150, walrus ivory; 18. Bowl with Engraved Figures of Vices, 1150–1200, bronze; 19. Engaged Capital with a Lion and a Basilisk, 1175–1200, marble; 20. Leaf from a Cocharelli Treatise on the Vices: Acedia and Her Court, c.1330, ink, tempera, and gold on vellum; 21. Miniature from a Mariegola: The Flagellation, 1359–1360, tempera and gold on parchment; 22. The Madonna of Humility with the Temptation of Eve, c.1400, tempera and gold on wood panel; 23. Grotesques from the Hours of Charles the Noble, c.1404, ink, tempera, and gold on vellum; 24. The Virgin Mary Overcoming a Devil, ca.1473, hand-colored woodcut; 25. Demon in Chains, c.1453, opaque watercolor and gold on paper; Part III. Daily Life and Its Fictions: 26. S-Shaped Fibula, 500s, silver with garnets; 27. Button, 500s, rock crystal, garnet, granulated gold; 28. Solidus with Busts of Constans II and Constantine IV (obverse), 659–661, gold; 29. Bifolium Excised from a Carolingian Gradual, c.830–860, gold and silver ink on purple parchment; 30. Jug, 900s, gold with repoussé and chased and engraved decoration; 31. Lion Aquamanile, 1200-1250, copper alloy; 32. Luster Wall Tile with a Couple, 1266, fritware with luster-painted design; 33. Leaf Excised from Henry of Segusio's 'Summa Aurea': Table of Consanguinity, c. 1280, ink, tempera, and gold on parchment; 34. Albarello with Two Hares, 14th century, tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica); 35. Mirror Case with a Couple Playing Chess, 1325–1350, ivory; 36. Table Fountain, c.1320–1340, gilt-silver and translucent enamels; 37. Barbute, 1350–1420, iron; 38. Time, from Chateau de Chaumont Set, 1512–1515, silk and wool; Part IV. Death and Its Aftermath: 39. Columbarium Tomb Plaque with the Monogram of Christ, 500–800, terracotta; 40. Single-Edged Knife (Scramasax), 600s, iron, copper, and gold foil; 41. Inscribed Tombstone of Shaikh al-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn al-Hasan, 1110, limestone; 42. Condemnation and Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence, c.1180, gilded copper, champlevé enamel; 43. Leaf from a Psalter: The Crucifixion, c.1300–1330, ink, tempera and gold on vellum; 44. Diptych with Scenes from the Life of Christ, c. 1350–1375, ivory; 45. Death of the Virgin, c.1400, tempera and oil with gold on panel; 46. Mourner from the Tomb of Philip the Bold, 1404–1410, alabaster; 47. The Last Judgment: Leaf from a Book of Hours, 1430s, ink, tempera and gold on vellum; 48. Initial T from a Choral Book with Isaac and Esau, c.1460–1470, ink, tempera, and gold on parchment; 49. A Bridal Couple, c.1470, oil on panel; 50. Dance of Death: The Pope, cut c.1526–27, woodcut. Show More