style="font-size:15px;"> 191. Anonymous. Apse in the Cathedral of Monreale: Christ Pantocrator, Virgin and Child, Archangel, Apostle, and Saints, 1175–1190. Mosaic. Cathedral of Monreale, Sicily. Byzantine.
192. Anonymous. Pala d’Oro, 12th-13th century. Gold, silver, and precious stones, 212 × 334 cm. St Mark’s Basilica, Venice. Byzantine.
193. Nicholas of Verdun, 1130-c. 1205, Austrian. Shrine of the Three Kings, 1191. Oak, gold, silver, copper, gilding, champlevé and cloisonné enamel, precious stones, and semi-precious stones, 153 × 110 × 220 cm. Cologne Cathedral, Cologne. Romanesque.
Nicolas de Verdun is one of the greatest goldsmiths of the Middle Ages. With him, the transition from the Romantic to the Gothic occurred. The genius artist was the cause for the Aesthetic Revolution of the 12th century, and he enjoyed a distinguished European distinction. The following three works are masterpieces of his creativity: in year 1181, he created the pulpit with an enamelled triptych of fifty religious peoples and a biblical scene for the Klosterneuburg Monastery. In 1184, he made the shrine of the Three Magi for the Cologne Cathedral and in 1205 the shrine for Tournai Cathedral. The significance of Nicolas de Verdun’s works lies in his personalised style, as well as in the return of the antique design vocabulary, and, although still early, the transition to Gothic.
194. Anonymous. Cauldron, Herat (Afghanistan), 12th century – beginning of the 13th century. Bronze with inlaid work in silver and copper, height: 18.5 cm. The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Eastern.
195. Master Alpais (?). Master Alpais’ ciborium, Limoges, c. 1200. Gilded copper, champlevé enamel, glass cabochons, height: 30 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
196. Anonymous. Reliquary from Notre-Dame de Termonde, Flanders, c. 1220–1230. Gilded silver and niello on a wooden core, precious stones, and quartz, 24.1 × 13.4 cm. Musée de Cluny, Paris.
197. Anonymous. Reliquary of St Francis of Assisi, Limoges, c. 1228–1230. Gilded copper, champlevé enamel on gilded copper, crystals, 20 × 20 cm. Musée de Cluny, Paris. Gothic.
198. Anonymous. Cross-shaped reliquary of the True Cross, southern Italy (?), end of the 12th century or c. 1200. Gilded silver, opaque cloisonné enamel on gilded silver, wood, glass beads, 24 × 11.7 cm. Musée des beaux-arts de Dijon, Dijon. Byzantine.
199. Anonymous. Cross-shaped reliquary of the True Cross, Limousin, 13th century. Gilded copper on wood, jewels, 57.3 × 21.4 cm. Musée de Cluny, Paris. Romanesque.
200. Anonymous. Chest, Sicily, end of the 12th century. Lacquered and gilded ivory on wood, gilded bronze, 11 × 31 cm. Musée de Cluny, Paris.
201. Anonymous. Chest, known as ‘The Holy Reliquary’, 12th-13th century. Ivory and enamel, height: 35 cm; diameter: 32.5 cm. From the treasury of the Sens Cathedral, Sens (France). Byzantine.
202. Anonymous. Jug, beginning of the 13th century. Stoneware, height: 28 cm. Museum of History of the People of Uzbekistan, Tashkent. Persian.
203. Anonymous. Pitcher, 13th century. Enamelled stoneware, burnt twice, height: 7.8 cm; diameter: 18 cm. The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Persian.
204. Anonymous. Dishes, Iran, 12th and 13th centuries. Ceramic and turquoise glass. Private collection. Eastern.
205. Anonymous. View of a ceiling made of wood, 1214–1230. St Michael’s Church, Hildesheim. Romanesque.
206. Anonymous. Ascension of Jesus, 13th century. Mosaic. St Mark’s Basilica, Venice. Byzantine.
207. Anonymous. Moralised Bible: Blanche of Castile and King Louis IX of France; Author Dictating to a Scribe, France, c. 1230. Ink, 37.5 × 26.2 cm. The Morgan Library and Museum, New York. Gothic.
208. Anonymous. Cover of a book belonging to St Blaise, Strasbourg (?), 1260–1270. Gilded silver, 38.7 × 27.3 cm. St Paul im Lavanttal, The Lavanttal. Gothic.
209. Anonymous. Prayer niche (Mihrab), 13th-14th century. Ceramic, 63 × 47 cm. Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon. Eastern.
210. Anonymous. Adam, c. 1260. Polychrome stone, 200 × 73 × 41 cm. Musée de Cluny, Paris. Gothic.
211. Anonymous. Virgin and Child from Sainte-Chapelle, c. 1265–1270. Ivory and traces of polychrome, 41 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Gothic.
212. Nicola Pisano, 1206–1278, Italian. Lectern, 1266–1268. Marble, height: 460 cm. Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, Siena. Gothic.
Italian sculptor and architect, Nicola Pisano heads the tradition of Italian sculpture. As early as 1221, he is said to have been summoned to Naples by Frederick II, to do work in the new Castell dell’Ovo. In 1260, as an incised inscription records, he finished the marble pulpit for the Pisa Baptistry. The next important work of Nicola in date is the Arca di San Domenico, in the church at Bologna consecrated to that saint, who died in 1221.
Nicola’s last great work of sculpture was the fountain in the piazza opposite the west end of the Perugia Cathedral. Nicola Pisano was not only pre-eminent as a sculptor but was also the greatest architect of his century and a skilled engineer.
Nicola Pisano died at Pisa, leaving his son Giovanni, a worthy successor to his great talents both as an architect and sculptor.
213. Anonymous. Altarpiece from the Church of St Maria zur Wiese, The Holy Trinity, Virgin Mary, and John the Baptist, c. 1250. Paint on wood. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin. Romanesque.
214. Anonymous. Bowl, decorated with two princes observing a pond with two fish, 13th century. Ceramic, height: 9 cm; diameter: 21.7 cm. Khalili Collection. Eastern.
215. Anonymous.
