Ten Commandments Window From the Carmelite Church in Boppard Middle Rhine, c. 1440–1446 Stained glass 380 x 249 cm; individual fields c. 53 x 72 cm Transferred from the Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts), Cologne, in 1930–1932 Cologne, Museum Schnütgen, inv. M 596 5 This window is one of the most important examples of late Gothic stained glass from the Middle Rhine region. It comes from the Carmelite Church in Boppard and depicts five of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1–17). As was customary in medieval preaching, the commandments are presented with accompanying scenes illustrating both their observance and their violation, the latter always accompanied by small demons. The scenes of the commandments give clear moral instructions. The central scene is particularly striking: while a group of people on the left are worshipping a golden idol, in violation of the first commandment, the worshippers on the right are turning to God the Father. The commandments are verbalised by banners presented by God himself (top line: Thou shalt not kill / Honour thy father and thy mother / Remember the sabbath day’, bottom line: ‘Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain / Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God’ (after Nikitsch)). The final image in the series is Moses receiving the Tablets of the Law at the lower right. The window was originally in the north wall of the side aisle, built from 1440, and formed the lower half of a larger window. The upper half, the panes of which are now in various collections, showed the remaining five commandments and the Virgin Mary. In addition to the five commandments and Moses, the panes in the Museum Schnütgen also depict the coronation of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. The saint, known for her charity, is shown giving bread and clothes to the needy. She is surrounded by angels holding heraldic shields with eagles and banners with passages from the Ambrosian Hymn of Praise. The exact position of the window in the side aisle and who commissioned it are disputed. Hayward suggested an imperial donation by King Albert II (1397–1439) or his widow, Elizabeth of Luxembourg (1409–1442). Becksmann, on the other hand, saw a reference to the Archbishop of Trier, Jakob von Sierck (c. 1398–1456), while Datz suggested a donation from the free imperial city of Boppard itself. Stylistically, the stained glass has parallels with the late Gothic glazing of St. Peter’s Church in Partenheim and St. Marcel’s Church in Zetting. After the secularisation of the Carmelite Monastery in 1818, the windows were sold by the town of Boppard and became part of various collections, including the Spitzer Collection in Paris, the Burrell Collection in Glasgow and the Ochre Court mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. Prüfer 1877. – Lymant 1982, 105–108, no. 60. – Hayward 1989, 184–188. – Nikitsch 2004, 79–81. – Becksmann 2009, 121–281. – Datz 2013. – Woelk/Beer 2018, 252–253, no. 166 (Iris Metje). Christina Clever-Kümper 50
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