betrays Byzantine influence, were recut. Therefore, their irregular shape stressed the fact that they were spolia. In order to fit these plaques, the original border of the ends and centre of the Cross was simplified to the current form. Beuckers dated this remodelling to the time of Abbess Sophia. In this remodelling, the collars of the ends of the cross became pointless and the goldsmith responsible for the remodelling concealed them with spiral-shaped filigree wire, known as (beehives). This ornamental motif came into vogue in the reign of Henry II (r. 1014–1024), along with another type of filigree decoration, the (corollae) which also appears on the ends of this cross (uniquely among the pieces in the Essen Cathedral Treasury). Sophia had been appointed Abbess of Essen by Henry II and was close to him, which might have given her the opportunity to employ one of his goldsmiths. Neither nor appear on the treasures which Sophia's successor Theophanu had made (presumably at another workshop), so Beuckers excludes her as the person responsible for the creation of the Cross with large enamels. It is not known why Sophia had a sacral object which had been created by her predecessor Mathilde remodelled and had another, apparently significant artwork of her own incorporated into it. If this dating is accepted, then the Cross with large enamels was created at the same time as the reliquary later known as the Marsus shrine. This artwork, considered the most significant treasure of the Abbey was a memorial donation of Emperor Otto III (r. 996–1002) for his father Otto II and was therefore very ornate. The shrine went missing in 1794 and no images of it are preserved. Beuckers assumes that the Cross and the Shrine, which was decorated with golden enamel plaques, were created in a workshop which was located in Essen. Since the border enamels of the Cross incorporate motifs found in work attributed to the Trier workshop, and the Marsus Shrine was created after 997, Beuckers suggests that Abbess Mathilde moved the workshop established in Trier by Archbishop Egbert of Trier to Essen after Egbert's death in 993, following which there are no signs of continuing activity in Trier. The Trier workshop is the only firmly locatable Ottonian enamel workshop. If the cross was indeed produced by the same workshop, this allows conclusions to be drawn about the quality of the lost Marsus shrine. History