Images: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Clavis number: ECMA 119
Other descriptors: none
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York (USA), Gallery 303
Accession number: 17.190.715a, b
Category: reliquaries
Related literature: Acts of Pilate (Gospel of Nicodemus)
Featured characters and locations: Adam, Eve, hell, Jesus Christ, Satan.
1. DESCRIPTION
Material: enamel worked in cloisonné with metal gilded silver, gold, and niello.
Overall size (with lid): 1 1/16 × 4 1/16 × 2 13/16 inches (2.7 × 10.3 × 7.1 cm)
Images and inscriptions: The lid of the box features an image of Jesus on the crucifix. The sun and the moon flank either side of the cross as Jesus hangs, arms outstretched with flowers growing at his feet. Jesus wears a colobium (sleeveless or short-sleeve tunic). Beside Jesus are the Virgin Mary and John the Theologian, both depicted with their hands raised to their faces to convey mourning. Each figure is named in Greek along with the words “Here is your son . . . Here is your Mother” (John 19:27). Fourteen busts of saints (all named) border the central crucifixion image of the lid: Saint Demetrios, Saint Eustathios, Saint Lawrence, Luke, Mark, Thomas, James, Saint Damianos, Saint Kosmas, Saint Gregory the Miracle-Worker, Bartholomew, Matthew, Jude, and Simon. The sides of the box are also lined with the busts of 13 more saints (all named). On the right side: Saint Platon, Saint Theodore, Saint Prokopios, and Saint George. On the lower side: Saint Panteleimon, Saint Eustratios, and Saint Merkourios. On the left side: Peter, Paul, John, and Andrew. And finally on the upper side: Saint Anastasios and Saint Nicholas. The base of the staurotheke resembles a book cover, a possible inference to the Gospels which recount the story of the crucifixion.
The underside of the lid features four scenes in niello from the life of Christ: the Annunciation (with the words “Hail, full of grace”), the Nativity (“the Nativity”), the Crucifixion (with “Here is your son . . . Here is your Mother”), and the Anastasis (Descent into Hell). Here Jesus is pictured in hell standing over Satan who is underfoot. Jesus is shown to be rescuing Adam and Eve. Eve is pictured behind Adam with her arms raised in similar fashion to the depiction of the Virgin Mary included on the underside of the lid.
The interior of the box contains patriarchal (double cross) walls which create five sections. The cross-cut-out area is intended for storage of the True Cross relic. Other smaller compartments surrounding the cross were thought to house other relics such as bones, hair, and cloth from the Holy Land.
Date: early 9th cent.
Provenance: created in Syriac Palestine (perhaps Jerusalem); owned by Pope Innocent IV (Sinibaldo Fieschi) (r. 1243–1254) and descendants; sold 1887 to Baron Albert Oppenheim, Cologne; sold 1906 to J. Pierpont Morgan, London and New York; gifted to the Met Museum in 1913. Pope Innocent IV gave the relic to the church of S. Salvatore-di-Lavagna where it remains today.
2. RELATION TO APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE
The Acts of Pilate (Gospel of Nicodemus) tells the story of the Anastasis or Descent to Hell. Following the crucifixion but prior to the resurrection, Jesus makes his way to the underworld to liberate the souls of the worthy who have died before his time. Important Old Testament and New Testament figures await the coming of the Saviour. Early in the text we get a foreshadowing of Jesus’ arrival in Hell and the purpose for his coming. Here Seth is being instructed to deliver a message to his father Adam.
Go away and tell your father that five thousand five hundred years after the creation of this world, the unique Son of God will descend to earth, having become human, and he will anoint him with this oil. He will then arise; and he will wash him in water and the Holy Spirit—both him and those who descend from him. Then he will be healed from all illness. But this is not possible now. (Acts of Pilate Rec. B, 19; trans. Bart D. Ehrman in Bart D. Ehrman and Zlatko Pleše, The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 465–89)
Later in the narrative we find direct reference to one of the depictions on the interior of the staurotheke. The underside of the lid in the lower right quadrant is a depiction of Jesus’ encounter with Adam and Eve. We see Jesus standing over Satan with his hand outstretched to Adam as Eve stands in behind him. The text below appears to parallel this portion of the story.
While Hades was talking with Satan this way, the King of glory stretched out his right hand to grasp and raise up Adam, the faher of all. (Acts of Pilate Rec. B, 24; trans. Ehrman).
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4. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
“Fieschi Morgan Staurotheke.” Google Arts & Culture.
“Fieschi Morgan Staurotheke.” Medieval Art.
“Fieschi Morgan Staurotheke.” Wikipedia.
“The Fieschi Morgan Staurotheke.” Hagia Sophia.
Entry created by Amy Martellacci, under the supervision of Tony Burke, York University, 26 March 2021.