Architectural Fragment: Head (of an Angel?)
Datecirca 1125
MediumCarved and drilled limestone
Dimensions7 1/4 x 5 1/8 in. (18.4 x 13 cm)
Credit LinePurchase, The Cochrane-Woods Collection
Object number1977.2
Status
Not on viewThe scratched surfaces of the back and left side of this fragment indicate that the head was, at some point in its history, decapitated from a body sculpted in relief on a flat surface. Standing just under four feet high, that original figure of an angel once looked downward and slightly to the left, perhaps smiling at a visitor to Cluny’s church. The figure’s rounded eyes and thin, straight mouth bordered by two parenthesis-like smile lines resemble those of other sculpted angels and holy figures at the twelfth-century monastery of Cluny. We can only guess that this fragment was once the head of an angel; what the whole figure originally looked like and where it belonged in the church must remain open questions.
Smart Publications:
The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art
circa 1120 - 1150
circa 1120 - 1150
circa 1150
circa 1350 - 1400
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10th century
