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Between and Mortarboard

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29 Items in this Learning Collection
Seraph, half of a medallion from the west rose window of Reims Cathedral
A lunette-shaped panel composed of red, blue, white, brownish purple and yellowish brown stained glass joined together by lead cames depicting a seraph. Four leafy fronds, taken from another medieval window, have been inserted here between the seraph's head and shoulders. The panel is the upper half of a roundel originally installed in the west rose window of Reims Cathedral.
Collection Object
The Good Thief on the Cross
A bearded man, wearing a loincloth and a long trailing headband, hangs from a cross by his arms, which have split open beneath the ropes that bind them. His left leg hangs downward and passes behind his right foot, which perches precariously on a forked branch. He strains to his left and gazes upward with his mouth open in a tortured movement augmented by the dramatic sweeps of drapery that frame his torso.
Collection Object
Enthroned Madonna and Child with angels and Saints Louis of Toulouse, Zenobius, John the Evangelist, and John the Baptist
The majestic figure of the Virgin with the infant Christ on her lap sits enthroned in the center of this painted panel. Her elaborate throne rests upon a dais and is enclosed on three sides by panels bristling with Gothic ornament. Two bishop saints holding croziers stand at the foot of the dais accompanied by two other saints who stand behind them, while fourteen angels crowd the background.
Collection Object
Processional cross with triumphant Christ (Christus triumphans) flanked by busts of the evangelists, Saints Matthew, John, Mark, and Luke (obverse); and suffering Christ (Christus patiens) flanked by busts of the Virgin Mary, God the father, Saint John and unidentified male saint with cross (Saint Philip?) (reverse)
The arms of the cross end in quatrefoil-shaped terminals. The front (obverse) is gilded and features a molding along the edges. The back (reverse) has a deep azurite blue ground and a gilded band punched with tiny rosettes that runs along the border.
Collection Object
Qur’an manuscript leaf in Abbasid Kufic script

Collection Object
Capital from the palace-city of Medinat al-Zahara with stylized acanthus leaves, vine rinceau and fleurons
This capital, based upon the Roman composite order, features stylized acanthus leaves and rinceau on the bell of the capital, which terminates in a band of bead-and-reel motif on the astragal. This, in turn, is capped by an echinus decorated with three fleurons and vine rinceau on each face as well as four projecting volutes also decorated with rinceau and fleurons. Originally the bell of the capital had two tiers of acanthus leaves, but the capital has been cropped below the top of the first tier and the tips of the leaves, which once curved outward from the surface of the capital, have been sheared off.
Collection Object
Qur'an manuscript leaf, illuminated section heading in thuluth script

Collection Object
Gamepiece of an Armed Knight Throttling a Monstrous, Bearded Chimera
Round, carved gamepiece featuring the image of a figure in armor sitting on top of and stabbing a winged creature with a beard. 
Collection Object
Bust of a Bishop

Collection Object
Tapestry

Collection Object
Calendar Leaf (January) from a Book of Hours
A double-sided illuminated manuscript leaf with three columns of text in gold leaf,&nbsp;red, and blue French blackletter script encased by a floriated border. There are two&nbsp;small miniatures, one on either side of the leaf, framed in arched compartments.<br /> <br /> The illustrated compartment on the recto features a seated man wearing a long blue&nbsp;tunic and red cap seated at a table in an interior marked by a stone fireplace. A&nbsp;smaller servant boy dressed in a long tunic presents the man with a platter. The&nbsp;compartment on the verso contains a landscape with a winding river where a man&nbsp;kneels, dressed in pants and a tunic shirt, and draws water into copper jugs.
Collection Object
St. Christopher carrying the Christ Child
A standing, bearded figure of St. Christopher, broken off at the knees, holds the Christ child on his right shoulder while leaning upon a staff in his left hand. The child, whose head is encircled by a halo, wears a long cloak over his robe and rests his left hand upon an orb in his lap. The red and brown polychromy is a later addition.
Collection Object
Console with bird in vine scroll, rinceau, and angel
A three-quarter length angel, robustly carved in high relief, emerges from a cloud bank on the curved inner face of the console. The outer face of the console bears a tightly wound vine scroll carved in shallower relief with a bird at its center. The bird grasps the vine with its left leg while stretching back to grasp a cluster of grapes in its beak.
Collection Object
Capital with vines and mask

Collection Object
Precious Stones, Eglise Notre Dame, Les Andelys
The vertical rectangular space of the image is completely filled with a detailed rendering of a section of an intricate Gothic portal façade. In the foreground a checked tile floor creates a recession into the space. In the center of the composition two doors are framed by a high, pointed arch. The space of the arch is filled with fine cut-out ornamental stonework. Arched niches containing figural sculptures flank each side of the main archway, and one also separates the two doors. The top of the image is framed by two rows of geometric ornamental decor. <br /> Beneath the image is an ornamental panel of simulated marble, on which the title of the image is written in gothic script: "Eglise Notre Dame / Les Andelys".<br /> Signed and dated: "John Taylor Arms / 1946"
Collection Object
Presentation in the Temple (Leaf from a Book of Hours)

Collection Object
Schöne Madonna
Bust of Madonna with head facing down and to the side. The main sculpture is of wood with layers of paint on the face and veil.
Collection Object
Madonna and Child with St. Thomas Aquinas and a Bishop Saint
This rectangular panel depicts four sacred figures rendered in dark hues with passages of vibrant red against a gold background. The upper edge of the gilded frame bears the prayer known as the &quot;Hail Mary&quot; (&quot;Ave Maria Gratia Plena Domin[us tecum]&quot;).
Collection Object
The Mourning St. John the Evangelist with two male figures (fragment of a crucifixion from a portable altarpiece)
This carved bone sculpture depicts John the Evangelist in profile with his hands held before him, bowing his head in mourning. A male figure wearing a knee-length robe stands on the right and holds a club in his left hand. A second male figure appears behind the saint in a similar pose of grief.
Collection Object
Leaf from a Choir Book with Nativity

Collection Object
Leaf from a Book of Hours

Collection Object
Sanctification cross with scenes from the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary and the Evangelists
This small carved boxwood cross is divided on each face into five compartments containing Christian religious scenes. The cross is set in a stand decorated with mother-of-pearl and green glass-paste stones.
Collection Object
Angel
This sculpture represents an angel bending slightly toward the left with his head tilted downward. Carved slots in his back would have held his wings, and the figure has lost his forearms and hands as well as his legs below the knees.
Collection Object
Aquamanile, Lion

Collection Object
Baptismal Basin with Lamb of God ('Agnus Dei')

Collection Object
Relief Panel with the Lamb of God ("Agnus Dei")

Collection Object
Diptych

Collection Object
Prayer Book of Service for the Dead, manuscript page

Collection Object
Priest Celebrating a Mass (Leaf from the Tarleton Hours)
This page of an illuminated manuscript on thin parchment is vertically oriented. Centered in the upper two-thirds of the page is a window-shaped scene of a priest celebrating mass. The priest, with red and white robes and a tonsure, holds up a communion wafer at an altar that has a bible and a communion goblet on it and an image of two figures with halos behind them. The altar and the priest’s robes are trimmed with gold leaf. Behind the priest are two kneeling figures, a man and a woman. They are in the interior of a gothic church, with stone vaulting above them. Below the scene are four lines of calligraphy with the first letter, a ‘D’, highly decorated. Decorative detailing surrounds the text and the scene. The left side consists of an ivy-like plant growing out of the "D", and the bottom and right sides have different foliate-derived design depicted in ink, tempera and gold.
Collection Object

Copyright
All Rights Reserved ()

The Good Thief on the Cross

Accession Number
1976/1.233

Title
The Good Thief on the Cross

Artist(s)
School of Kalkar

Object Creation Date
circa 1520

Medium & Support
walnut with polychrome

Dimensions
10 ¼ in x 4 15/16 in x 1 9/16 in (26.04 cm x 12.54 cm x 3.97 cm);10 ¼ in x 4 15/16 in x 1 9/16 in (26.04 cm x 12.54 cm x 3.97 cm)

Credit Line
Museum Purchase

Label copy
March 28, 2009
This twisted figure with cruelly bound and broken arms represents one of the two thieves who were crucified alongside Christ. It once belonged to a larger sculptural ensemble that depicted the Crucifixion and other scenes from the life of Christ as part of an altarpiece. The figure’s upturned head—a position reinforced by his outthrust leg—indicates that he originally looked toward the figure of Christ to his left. This gesture identifies him as the Good Thief, who recognized Christ and decried the injustice of his execution. His confession of faith upon the threshold of death invited Christians to contemplate their own trials in a sinful world and prepare for the final confrontation with God that they would face at the end of time.

Subject matter
This bearded figure bound to a cross represents the Good Thief described in the gospel of Luke who was crucified alongside Christ and decried the injustice of Christ's execution (Luke 23:39-43). This sculpture once formed part of a complex, multi-figure altarpiece depicting the Crucifixion in which the Good Thief would have appeared next to a larger figure of the crucified Christ.

Physical Description
A bearded man, wearing a loincloth and a long trailing headband, hangs from a cross by his arms, which have split open beneath the ropes that bind them. His left leg hangs downward and passes behind his right foot, which perches precariously on a forked branch. He strains to his left and gazes upward with his mouth open in a tortured movement augmented by the dramatic sweeps of drapery that frame his torso.

Primary Object Classification
Sculpture

Primary Object Type
carving

Additional Object Classification(s)
Ritual Object

Collection Area
Western

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Christianity
altarpieces
loincloths

6 Related Resources
Christian New Testament
(Part of 3 Learning Collections)
Death and Dying
(Part of 8 Learning Collections)
Early Modern European Objects
(Part of 2 Learning Collections)
Northern Renaissance and Reformation-Era Art
(Part of 2 Learning Collections)
Prison and Punishment
(Part of 11 Learning Collections)

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On display

UMMA Gallery Location ➜ AMH, 1st floor ➜ 102 (Richard and Rosann Noel Gallery)