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Inscription

across lower field: I[ESUS].N[AZARENUS] / R[EX] I[UDEORVM] (Jesus of Nazareth, "King of the Jews")[1]

Inscription Notes

[1] This is the mocking Superscription applied to the Cross, as recounted in Matthew 27:37, Mark 15:26, and Luke 23:38 (all restricted to the “title” only); the full form, with both name and title, and note of trilingual Hebrew/Greek/Latin text, is in John 19:19–22.

Marks and Labels

Reverse bears former inventory numbers 309 in black ink (evidently referring to the publication of another specimen, gilded and lacking the suspension loop at top, as lot number 309 in the Bardini sale in London of 27 May 1902) and 281 in yellow paint (Ricci 1931).

Provenance

Gustave Dreyfus [1837-1914], Paris; his estate; purchased 1930 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); purchased 1945 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1957 to NGA.

Bibliography

1931
Ricci, Seymour de. The Gustave Dreyfus Collection. Reliefs and Plaquettes. Oxford, 1931: 203, no. 281, pl. 85, as northern Italy, fifteenth century.
1951
Renaissance Bronzes: Statuettes, Reliefs and Plaquettes, Medals and Coins from the Kress Collection. Introduction by Perry B. Cott. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 147, as northern Italian, fifteenth century.
1965
Pope-Hennessy, John W. Renaissance Bronzes from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Reliefs, Plaquettes, Statuettes, Utensils and Mortars. London, 1965: 80, no. 277, fig. 31, as Roman, second half of the fifteenth century.
2006
Bergbauer, Bertrand and Catherine Chédeau. Images en relief: La collection de plaquettes du Musée National de la Renaissance. Paris, 2006: 76.
2011
Rossi, Francesco. La collezione Mario Scaglia: placchette. 3 vols. Bergamo, 2011: 1:84, under Prototipo, M.12, as school of Filarete.

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