Lombard Crucifix In Gilded Copper With Mercusium. (569-774 Ad)

An exceptional Lombard crucifix (569-774 AD - 20 x 15 cm) made from a single plate of mercury-gilded copper. This 'Pure Art' object expresses a unique character. The oval face, with long hair at the neck and a surreal aspect, as if the ribs were the folds of a tunic, with a swollen belly and a triangular thong. The artist who imaginatively "created" this image, after much struggle to bring out the figure of the dead Christ from the flat copper plate, realized he had made a mistake in the proportions and was forced to make the hands and feet emerge from the cross. The lower part of the cross, supported as if it had been grained, has five daisy-shaped stars surrounding the figure of Christ. Twelve holes along the edge of the cross indicate that the Christ figure once adorned the frontispiece of an important illuminated Lombard Missal. Object from a private Sicilian collection. (569-774 AD)