DOI Heft:
Nr. 3-4
DOI Artikel:Timmermann, Achim: A promise of paradise: microarchitecture, baptism and the font ciborium of St. Severus in Erfurt =
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.35031#0188
180
ACHIM TlMMERMANN
4. Dt/r CrzAp, f///77, /o/7f CzAo/lMW
f742dy) /ro/zz /zo/TAwe.sT
An inscription in raised minuscule below the apostle figurę of John the Evangelist
informs the viewer that this work was completed in 1467 'pro g/orio Do//?//?/ Del yć/c/^o-
/7?<?/?77 ^op7/A7??ć/7/A'C Documentary evidence confirms this datę, although there appears to
exist some confusion about the donor's identity; a sixteenth-century chronicie supplies the
name of Johannes Steinberg of Duderstadt, a doctor of law who allegedly paid the vast
sum of 2,500 silver marks toward the construction of the edifice^. SteinbergA life is fairly
well documented;^ among other high offices, he held the position of ge/^/?rter at the
imperial court, becoming Dean of Erfurt University in 1485. While weH-connected and
perhaps even wealthy in his later life, it is doubtful whether Steinberg ever had at his
disposal the means to finance the ciborium by himself; nor are there compelling reasons to
assume that he had any vested interests in the project at the time it was undertaken around
1467 - in that very year, he wouid have been in his late twenties, and was just about to
complete his Joctor /egu/?? at the distant University of Padua. It seems morę likely that the
16th-century chronicler confused Johannes Steinberg with his older brother Hermann,^
who was appointed Canon of St. Severus (and Dean of Erfurt University) in 1464, three
^ The complete inscription reads 'cozzzp/cmzzz M/ /zoc opzz^ 77/7770 Do/zzzzz; zzzcccc hnń pro g/oz4o Dozzzzzzz DA ^ocrozzzc/z/;
bop/zT/ZZO/zY.
** Erfurt City Archive, Cod. Erf., fol. 97, 25 (quoted here after OVERMANN, Dzc d/terczz Dzz/zA/Ac/zDzzó/cr..., op. cit. -
notę 1, p. 108 n. 4): 'Azzzzo 7467 7zo?/ /zerr 7o/zozzzz y/czzzbcrg uozz y?;/<7e/?erg ober Dzz&r^/oA/ bczAcr z^ec/z/gzz Doctor ouc/z
bcy&r y/zp/^7zz7*c/zczz Morze zzzzA yewrz cozzozzzcM^ zo D/j^żzr/ozzf^czz? ezgezz DzzTzoi/czz bezz Dzzp/czzz zzz 5. y<?wry7z//hiz'r-
C/7C77 ZZZOC/ZCZZ /o^^CZZ ZZZZc/ /zot gc/zO^/C/flz^M^^ ZWOZZZZg /zzzzzAcr/ Gzz7z7czz.'
^ For Steinberg's fuli biography, see: Robert GRAMSCH, Tfrgzr/er JzzrzAezz zzzz ypó7zzzz'?/c/o7/cz" Dzc Doz*rz'crczzzzz^/gr zzzzb
Tó7z'g/:cz7^/cMgr czzzcr gAc/zr/czz D/z7c 74. zzzzA 75. 7o/zr/zzzzz4crA ('D4zzco/;'ozz ozz<7 Poczęty zzz /7zc MzA4/c Agcy ozzA
RczzoDyozzcc' 17), Leiden and Boston 2003, pp. 178, 182, 448, 479A, 484, 500, no. 604; cf. also Erich KLE1NE1DAM,
Dzzzucryzto^ y/rzr/zz Dzj^or&zzAA.' DbczA/zcł żż/zer Azc Ge^AzzAz/e &r Dzzzwr^ztóYEzyMrt. 4 vols., Leipzig 1992, here vol.
2, pp. 316-17. The following discussion on the identity of the ciboriunTs donor draws on both publications.
^ KLEINEIDAM, DzzzTcr^z/oó' y/zzAz'z Dz^bzAczz^A ... (as in notę 8), pp. 2, 7 n. 36, draws attention to a series of other
contemporary or near-contemporary sources which confuse the identities of the two brothers.
ACHIM TlMMERMANN
4. Dt/r CrzAp, f///77, /o/7f CzAo/lMW
f742dy) /ro/zz /zo/TAwe.sT
An inscription in raised minuscule below the apostle figurę of John the Evangelist
informs the viewer that this work was completed in 1467 'pro g/orio Do//?//?/ Del yć/c/^o-
/7?<?/?77 ^op7/A7??ć/7/A'C Documentary evidence confirms this datę, although there appears to
exist some confusion about the donor's identity; a sixteenth-century chronicie supplies the
name of Johannes Steinberg of Duderstadt, a doctor of law who allegedly paid the vast
sum of 2,500 silver marks toward the construction of the edifice^. SteinbergA life is fairly
well documented;^ among other high offices, he held the position of ge/^/?rter at the
imperial court, becoming Dean of Erfurt University in 1485. While weH-connected and
perhaps even wealthy in his later life, it is doubtful whether Steinberg ever had at his
disposal the means to finance the ciborium by himself; nor are there compelling reasons to
assume that he had any vested interests in the project at the time it was undertaken around
1467 - in that very year, he wouid have been in his late twenties, and was just about to
complete his Joctor /egu/?? at the distant University of Padua. It seems morę likely that the
16th-century chronicler confused Johannes Steinberg with his older brother Hermann,^
who was appointed Canon of St. Severus (and Dean of Erfurt University) in 1464, three
^ The complete inscription reads 'cozzzp/cmzzz M/ /zoc opzz^ 77/7770 Do/zzzzz; zzzcccc hnń pro g/oz4o Dozzzzzzz DA ^ocrozzzc/z/;
bop/zT/ZZO/zY.
** Erfurt City Archive, Cod. Erf., fol. 97, 25 (quoted here after OVERMANN, Dzc d/terczz Dzz/zA/Ac/zDzzó/cr..., op. cit. -
notę 1, p. 108 n. 4): 'Azzzzo 7467 7zo?/ /zerr 7o/zozzzz y/czzzbcrg uozz y?;/<7e/?erg ober Dzz&r^/oA/ bczAcr z^ec/z/gzz Doctor ouc/z
bcy&r y/zp/^7zz7*c/zczz Morze zzzzA yewrz cozzozzzcM^ zo D/j^żzr/ozzf^czz? ezgezz DzzTzoi/czz bezz Dzzp/czzz zzz 5. y<?wry7z//hiz'r-
C/7C77 ZZZOC/ZCZZ /o^^CZZ ZZZZc/ /zot gc/zO^/C/flz^M^^ ZWOZZZZg /zzzzzAcr/ Gzz7z7czz.'
^ For Steinberg's fuli biography, see: Robert GRAMSCH, Tfrgzr/er JzzrzAezz zzzz ypó7zzzz'?/c/o7/cz" Dzc Doz*rz'crczzzzz^/gr zzzzb
Tó7z'g/:cz7^/cMgr czzzcr gAc/zr/czz D/z7c 74. zzzzA 75. 7o/zr/zzzzz4crA ('D4zzco/;'ozz ozz<7 Poczęty zzz /7zc MzA4/c Agcy ozzA
RczzoDyozzcc' 17), Leiden and Boston 2003, pp. 178, 182, 448, 479A, 484, 500, no. 604; cf. also Erich KLE1NE1DAM,
Dzzzucryzto^ y/rzr/zz Dzj^or&zzAA.' DbczA/zcł żż/zer Azc Ge^AzzAz/e &r Dzzzwr^ztóYEzyMrt. 4 vols., Leipzig 1992, here vol.
2, pp. 316-17. The following discussion on the identity of the ciboriunTs donor draws on both publications.
^ KLEINEIDAM, DzzzTcr^z/oó' y/zzAz'z Dz^bzAczz^A ... (as in notę 8), pp. 2, 7 n. 36, draws attention to a series of other
contemporary or near-contemporary sources which confuse the identities of the two brothers.