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Course: The Metropolitan Museum of Art > Unit 1

Lesson 3: Devotion
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art
82nd & Fifth
Devotion
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Plaque with the Journey to Emmaus and Noli Me Tangere

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Met curator Peter Barnet on theatricality in Plaque with the Journey to Emmaus and Noli Me Tangere, c. 1115–20.

Two appearances of the risen Christ are represented on this ivory plaque. Christ's encounter with two disciples on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus is depicted at the top. According to the Gospel of Luke, the disciples, "their faces full of gloom," lamented Christ's crucifixion to a stranger they met on the road. Knowing that he was not recognized, Christ explained that it was preordained that the Messiah must suffer in order to redeem humankind (Luke 24:13-27). The figures are not placed in an illusionistic setting but are portrayed against a neutral background. The travelers are equipped with appropriate traveling gear—staff, water gourd, and purse—and their spirited discussion is emphasized by their lively stride.

In the lower register, Christ appears to Mary Magdalene, who, according to the Gospel of John, stood weeping outside Jesus' empty tomb. Seeing Christ and thinking he was the gardener, she said, "If it you, sir, who removed him, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said, "Mary!" She turned to him and said, "Rabbuni!" (Hebrew for "My Master"). Jesus said, "Noli me tangere [Do not touch me] for I have not as yet ascended to the Father" (John 20:11-17). The drama of both these narratives is effectively conveyed through the vigorous, elongated bodies, gesturing heads, and large hands. The swirling drapery with pearled borders similarly emphasizes the action. The plaque was part of a larger composition representing scenes from the life of Christ, but its context remains unknown.

View this work on metmuseum.org. 

Are you an educator? Here's a related lesson plan. For additional educator resources from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, visit Find an Educator Resource. 

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Video transcript

This ivory plaque can be seen as a monumental work of art, in spite of its relatively small size. It was probably decorating a reliquary box that would have held a relic that might have pertained to one of the scenes here. The drama and theatricality of the way the scene is shown would have made the object seen from some distance in a church. It’s quite deeply carved, the figures are in high relief. It shows two scenes set in the days after Christ’s resurrection from the tomb during the period before the Ascension. At the top we see three figures, two of them represent pilgrims and they’re very sorrowful. They’ve just come from Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified. The hems of the drapery are actually knotted up, which I think conveys the tension of the scene. And this stranger comes upon them as they’re going to Emmaus. He explains to them that the sacrifice of Jesus is really the salvation of mankind. What he doesn’t reveal to them is in fact that he is the risen Christ. Below those figures, there’s an inscription in Latin, “God says to Mary”--Mary Magdalene, who’s reaching out to Jesus who she has just recognized. One of her feet is in fact off the ground, and she has a very serious look on her face. Jesus is vehemently gesturing to her, ‘don’t touch me for I have not yet risen to the Father.’ The power that this sculpture has is precisely in the fact that it’s not always so concerned with naturalism and it’s really concerned with telling a story, so that the figures move in impossible ways and they kind of jump and dance. And if you notice the figures are kind of bent and hunched over. If they stood up straight it’s very clear they wouldn’t even fit within this frame. The very complex combination of gestures and movements that your eye can follow, emphasized by the way the drapery is flowing and fluttering around at the same time. In later medieval art, there’s more of an emphasis on the Virgin Mary, more of an emphasis on a kind of gentler Christianity. And Romanesque art has a dramatic intensity that I think is something that I love about it.