Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 8325
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Kornbluth , Genevra.
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  • Title: Richildis and Her Seal: Carolingian Self-Reference and the Imagery of Power [The author explores women's use of seals during the Carolingian era. Kornbluth focuses on the drawing of a seal (now lost) engraved with the name "Richilde." She suggests that it may have belonged to the empress married to Charles the Bald and may represent the Greek mythological figure Omphale, the Lydian queen with whom Hercules fell in love. Title note supplied by Feminae.].
  • Source: Saints, Sinners, and Sisters: Gender and Northern Art in Medieval and Early Modern Europe.  Edited by Jane L. Carroll and Alison G. Stewart.  Ashgate, 2003.  Pages 161 - 181.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Essay
  • Subject (See Also): Art History- Decorative Arts Authority Carolingian Dynasty Empresses Inconography Omphale (Mythological Figure) Richildis, Wife of Charles the Bald, Holy Roman Emperor Sigillography Spolia Women in Art
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  • Illustrations: Nine figures. Figure One Drawing of the "Seal of Richildis," engraved gem, 870-910?, formerly Fauvel collection, after Bernard de Montfaucon, "Les monumens de la monarchie françoise," vol. 1, Paris, 1729. Figure Two "Seal of Lothar II," engraved rock crystal, 855-861 (Aachen, Cathedral Treasury, Lothar cross). Figure Three "Seal of Norpertus," late ninth/early tenth century (Florence, Museo Archeologico). Figure Four "Seal impression of Lothar I," wax imprint, 841 (Marbury, Staatsarchiv, Reichsabtei Fulda, August 20 841). Figure Five "Écran de Charlemagne," detail: head of Julia, daughter of Emperor Titus, engraved aquamarine, first century; setting, second half ninth century (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de la France, Cabinet des Médailles). Figure Six "Head of Minerva," engraved brown sard (impression), first century (Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, no. 81. AN.106.6). Figure Seven "Head of Omphale," engraved agate, Roman, date unknown (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de la France, Cabinet des Médailles, no. 1779). Figure Eight "Cathedra Petri," ivory panels on wood throne, late 840s to 875 (Vaticano, Rome, Basilica di San Pietro). Figure Nine "Cathedra Petri," detail: Hercules and the Mare of Diomedes.
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  • Author's Affiliation: University of Maryland, College Park
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2003.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 0754605892