Crucifixion plaque

Late 15th century

Object PlaceLombardy?

Medium/TechniqueGlazed terracotta

DimensionsOverall: 35.6 x 24.1 x 2.2 cm (14 x 9 1/2 x 7/8 in.)

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. George W. Wales, by exchange

Accession number60.234

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsCeramics

Collections

Europe

ProvenanceAdalbert von Lanna (b. 1836 - d. 1909), Prague; November 9-16, 1909, Lanna sale, Lepke, Berlin, lot 488. Oscar Bondy (b. 1870 - d. 1944) and Elisabeth Bondy, Vienna; 1938, confiscated from Oscar and Elisabeth Bondy by Nazi forces (no. OB 937) [see note 1]; stored at the Central Depot, Neue Burg, Vienna, and probably removed to Alt Aussee [see note 2]; 1945, recovered by Allied forces and subsequently returned to Elisabeth Bondy, New York; probably sold by Mrs. Bondy to Blumka Gallery, New York [see note 3]; 1960, sold by Blumka to the MFA for $1,000. (Accession Date: April 14, 1960)

NOTES:
[1] With the Anschluss, or annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany in March, 1938, the possessions of Oscar and Elisabeth Bondy were seized and expropriated almost immediately by Nazi forces. This plaque is listed in a Nazi-generated inventory of the collection (July 4, 1938; Vienna, BDA-Archiv, Restitutions-Materialen, K 8/1), probably as no. 937 ("Bunt glasierte Tonplatte mit Kreuzigung Christi, 36 x 24.3").

[2] Many works of art stored elsewhere by the Nazis were moved to the abandoned salt mines of Alt Aussee in Austria, to be kept stafe from wartime bombing.

[3] Mr. Bondy and his wife left Europe and emigrated to the United States, where he passed away in 1944. In the years following World War II, much of his collection was restituted to his widow and subsequently sold on the New York art market, particularly through Blumka Gallery. For further on Oscar Bondy, see Sophie Lillie, Was einmal war: Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstammlungen Wiens (Vienna, 2003), pp. 216-245.