Altar Cross with Stand

1140–1150
Overall: 43.4 x 22.5 x 8 cm (17 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3 1/8 in.)
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Description

From the 11th century onward, altar crosses like this one often featured elaborate bases. The most impressive decoration of this cross is its stand: a lavish array of intertwining scrolls emerges from three pawlike legs, while birds perch amid the scrolls and dragon heads sprout from others.
Altar Cross with Stand

Altar Cross with Stand

1140–1150

Germany, Lower Saxony, Hildesheim?, Romanesque period, 12th century

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