Switzerland, ca. 1300
Height 62 cm, width 67 cm
Inv. 1881.87.
The trefoil window with Christ enthroned as the Pantokrator from Nendaz parish church in the Valais region is one of the few surviving pieces documenting Swiss glass painting in the C13. Originally serving as infill in tracery, the glass found its way into the Historisches Museum from the Bürki collection in Berne, which was auctioned in 1880; the town of Solothurn bought two lancet window panels depicting bishops by the same artist and from the same source. In front of an uncoloured ground with foliate decoration, Christ sits in a strictly frontal position with His arms outspread showing the wounds in His hands. Originally the Redeemer was flanked in a Deesis group by the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist, interceding in adjacent panels now lost. Comparison with contemporary glass paintings such as the Madonna enthroned in the monastery of Wettingen highlights the provincial character of this piece, which must have been the work of a local artist.
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