Abbot's Stall - Cleveland Museum of Art - Cleveland, OH
N 41° 30.574 W 081° 36.716
17T E 448933 N 4595507
A 16th century abbot's stall from a French monastery at the Cleveland Museum of Art
Waymark Code: WM171XA
Location: Ohio, United States
Date Posted: 11/22/2022
Views: 1
This 16th century abbot's stall is located at the Cleveland Museum of Art on East Boulevard in Cleveland, Ohio. It is in the French Tapestries & Illuminated Manuscripts section of the museum (section 113). The Cleveland Museum of Art is free and open to the public (see below for museum hours).
The stall is made of oak and is believed to have been built at the beginning of the 16th century. While it is uncertain which monastery it came from, it is certain to be from France, and likely from Artois or Picardy. The sign at the museum gives the following information: "This elaborate chair most likely belonged to an abbot, the spiritual head of a monastery. The seat was built high in order to raise the abbot above those surrounding him as a symbol of his rank and authority, while the canopy above accentuated his importance and dignity. The stall would have been likely placed in a monastic chapter house where the entire community of monks would have held their daily meetings and deliberations. The linen-fold panels, the intricate ribbed vaulting, the open work tracery, and the many pinnacles are characteristic of the flamboyant Gothic style at the end of the Middle Ages in France and the Low Countries. The decorative profile heads suggest some knowledge of early Renaissance models. The fine relief on the seat back with the Tree of Jesse shows the ancestry of Christ. The stall has received some replacement parts in recent centuries, but the seat and canopy are entirely original."
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