The Harvest of the World (Bamberg Apocalypse)

Christ is depicted as a central figure, seated on a beige cloud, wearing a white tunic and a dark brown mantle, with a cross-nimbus halo; he holds a closed book in his right hand and a sickle in his left. Above him, a divine hand reaches out from a cloud in the upper right. To the left, two angels with wings emerge from a rectangular stone structure; the upper angel is writing in a book, while the lower angel leans out to cut grapevines with a sickle. Below them, a field of stylized wheat stands in upright rows. The background is a solid, dark earth-toned field, typical of Ottonian manuscript illumination.

This folio illustrates the apocalyptic harvest described in Revelation 14:14–20, where the 'Son of Man' with a sickle reaps the earth. It is a defining piece of the Ottonian Renaissance, representing the theological focus on the End Times that preoccupied the imperial court of the Holy Roman Empire around the year 1000.