Detail of a Tomb Effigy of a Boy- Probably Ermengol IX in the Cloisters, June 2011

Tomb Effigy of a Boy, Probably Ermengol IX, Count of Urgell

Date: first half 14th century

Culture: Catalan

Medium: Limestone, traces of paint

Dimensions: 15 3/8 x 33 7/8 x 15 1/4 in. (39 x 86 x 38.7 cm)

Classification: Sculpture

Credit Line: The Cloisters Collection, 1975

Accession Number: 1975.129

Description:

The arms of the counts of Urgell on the shoulder strap of this effigy of a boy suggest that it represents Ermengol IX, the uncle of Ermengol X and the only count of Urgell to die as a boy. Because the tomb is too small for the body of a youth of the age portrayed in the effigy, it was probably used after a chaux vive burial, in which the remains were interred in quicklime for at least a year and then transferred to the small sarcophagus. Since at least the early nineteenth century, this effigy, along with its original sarcophagus and lion supports, now in the Gothic cathedral at Lerida known as the Seu Vella (Seo Antigua), was in the wall niche in the church of Santa Maria at Castelló de Farfanya. Whether it was ever in the monastery church at Bellpuig de les Avellanes with the other tombs of the counts of Urgell is unknown.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/471965