Processional Cross of San Millán de la Cogolla (upper arm)
Unknown · 985-1000
Carved from elephant tusk, the upper arm of the cross of San Millán de la Cogolla carried the head of the cross, a narrow shaft widening to some fourteen centimetres. Like its companion, both faces carry a wide band of vine scrolls inhabited by birds, quadrupeds and fantastic beasts, cut in low relief with a sharp, confident line. Look closely and you will find traces of the gold and glass beads that once brightened the carving. The shape is typical of Christian Spain around the year one thousand, when Christian workshops were absorbing the ornament of Islamic Al-Andalus.
The two Louvre arms and a third piece in Madrid are what survives of the cross. It came from the monastery of San Millán in La Rioja, south east of Burgos, founded on the tomb of the hermit Emilian and one of the great pilgrimage centres of medieval Spain. The arms were in the Maillet du Boulay collection and then that of the Parisian collector Félix Doistau, whose gift was accepted by the Louvre on the sixteenth of June nineteen hundred and four. The number five nine four four painted in black is the museum's own mark.
Did You Know? A third arm of the same cross survives in Madrid, so the object is today split between two countries.
Unlock the Full Guide
Read every room and listen to every work in all museums with premium.