Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00010782Pax with the Adoration of the Magi
by Moderno
About the Artwork
A pax is a small flat tablet decorated with Christian images and meant to be kissed by the priest before Communion. This plaquette likely had a tabernacle-shaped frame which has been cut away. Here the Madonna sits before a stable with a nude Christ Child seated on her right knee. A star with a long vertical ray radiates in the distance above the stable. Joseph stands on the right edge of the relief, while a nude child, likely a young John the Baptist, appears beside Joseph. The Three Kings approach the Holy Family with gifts, the first kneeling, his arms folded across his chest, while a kneeling male, nude except for a helmet, adjusts the sandal of the third king. A long procession follows the magi, continuing diagonally up the rocky hills in the background. This rocky landscape and crowded figures animate the surface, conveying the excitement and haste as visitors journey to see the newborn king. An inscription on the back of the plaquette reads "This has been given as a gift to Andrea Aiardo, Archbishop of Brundisi by Ioannes Baptista Fontanus, Goldsmith, in the year of our Lord 1583." Other versions of this plaquette exist in the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Louvre, the Berlin State Museums, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. --Ana Dieglio (2009)
Inscriptions
inscription on back: ANDREAEAIA RDO, ARCHI EPISCOPO BRVNDI SINO, IOANNES BAPTISTA FONTANVS, AVRIFEX, DONO DEDIT A.DNI.M.D.L.XXXXIII.
Provenance
Alfred Spero (London, England) J. J. Klejman (New York, New York), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1963
Exhibition history
Year in Review (1963). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 27, 1963-January 5, 1964). When Angels Bent Near the Earth to Touch Their Harps of Gold: The Christmas Story. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 1, 1981-January 17, 1982). Master Goldsmiths of the Renaissance: Their Models and Designs. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 2, 1982-March 20, 1983).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Moderno (Italian, 1467–1528)
- Date
- c. 1500
- Medium
- gilt bronze
- Dimensions
- Overall: 9.5 x 6.6 cm (3 3/4 x 2 5/8 in.)
- Type
- Sculpture
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Charles W. Harkness Endowment Fund and Various Donors by exchange
- Accession no.
- 1963.254
More by Moderno in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00010782
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