Learning from Romanesque bronze bowls

Abstract

In his review of Romanische gravierte Bronzeschalen by Josepha Weitzmann-Fiedler, Herbert Kessler concluded that her book was important for the way it ‘probed deeply the creative processes involved in the expression of complex meanings in medieval works of art’.1 There is no doubt that Kessler himself has been among the foremost expositors of the multiple ways that complex meaning was invested in and generated by a wide range of art in the Middle Ages. In his teaching and scholarship he has shown the importance of looking closely at objects and of questioning accepted theories. For these reasons, and because of his own personal and academic closeness to both Josepha Weitzmann-Fiedler and Kurt Weitzmann, we think it particularly fitting to offer in his honor this essay reevaluating the engraved Romanesque bronze bowls.