Heraldic Panel of the City of Bern
This heraldic panel represents the arms of the city of Bern, Switzerland, and of the Holy Roman Empire. In the 16th century, Bern enjoyed relative political independence as a self-governed city-state, which answered directly to the Holy Roman Emperor, rather than to an intermediary ruler. The design of the panel reflects that relationship. In the center, the crowned crest of the Holy Roman Empire (a double headed eagle on a yellow ground) stands directly above two crests of the city of Bern (a bear on a yellow and red ground). Comparison with similar historical examples suggests that this panel was once ringed by the arms of other regions of the Holy Roman Empire. The panel was cut down to its present size before it was acquired by George Gough Booth, perhaps to eliminate damaged areas or to accommodate installation in a smaller window. The remnant of an inscription, now illegible, is visible at the base of the panel.
The panel was one of a dozen purchased by George Booth from an antiques shop in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 1922. Six of the panels were given to the Detroit Institute of Arts, two were gifted elsewhere, and four, including this panel, were installed in Cranbrook House. This panel can be seen in the east window of the Cranbrook House library.
Mariam Hale
2023-2025 Collections Fellow
Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research
March 2024
Additional research by Sofia Dabrowski, Intern, European Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, 2010.
ProvenanceLord Sudeley, Toddington Castle, Essex, England (before 1911)
Theodore Fischer, Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, Switzerland (1911-1922)
George Gough Booth and Ellen Scripps Booth (1922-1949)
Cranbrook Foundation (1949-1973)
Cranbrook Educational Community (1973-present)
Credit LineCranbrook Center for Collections and Research
Cultural Properties Collection, Founders Collection
Bequest of George Gough Booth and Ellen Scripps Booth through the Cranbrook Foundation
Medium | MaterialsPot metal, white glass with silver stain, and enamel
Inscribed(Truncated) Loblich Statt B [...]
Translated: The praiseworthy City of Bern
GenreObject TypeStained-glass windows
Select Bibliography and Archival Citation(s)Raguin, Virginia. Stained Glass before 1700 in American Collections: Midwestern and Western States (Corpus Vitrearum Checklist III). National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, and University Press of New England, 1989.
Virginia Chieffo Raguin and Helen Jackson Zakin, Stained Glass before 1700 in the Collections of the Midwest States (Corpus Vitrearum: United States VIII). vol 2, London/Turnhout, 2001, pp. 19-64.
Raguin, Virginia. Stained Glass before 1700 in American Collections: Midwest and Western States. Corpus Vitrearum Checklist III, (Studies in the History of Art, 28), Washington DC, 1989, pp. 151-155.
