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Box in the shape of a book
View: Front
Box
Box in the shape of a book
Northern European
Medieval (Gothic)
mid-14th century
Object Place: Europe, Northern Europe
Medium/Technique
Silver (various pieces: 92.8-93.6% silver, 4.4-5.3% copper, 1.3-1.5% gold, .4-.8% lead)
Dimensions
4.8 x 4.4 x 1.9 cm (1 7/8 x 1 3/4 x 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Arthur Mason Knapp Fund
Accession Number46.1249
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsMetalwork
DescriptionBox with front and back plates opening like a book and two loops soldered to either side. Hammered, engraved, and soldered. The sides comprise four sheets soldered at the corners with two rectangular framing bands soldered to the bottom on the inside. Two hinges and a clasp are soldered to the front and back plates. Engraved on the front against a cross-hatched ground is, on the outer rim, an inscription in black letter script beginning in the upper left and continuing clockwise around the border: SALVE SANCT(A) FACIES XPI(STI). A cross fills the upper left corner and debased square rosettes are placed in the upper right and lower left corners. Saint Margaret emerging from the dragon, holding her cross upright with both hands, is depicted in the center with seven rosettes dispersed over the cross-hatched ground and framed by cusped arches in the upper corners. She is shown in profile with her head turned slightly toward the viewer, wearing an unadorned close-fitting long-sleeved gown. The dragon is also shown in profile swallowing Margaret's mantle. Engraved on a cross-hatched ground is an inscription on the back reading (clockwise) MELCHIOR IASPAR BALTHASAR and, in the center beneath cusped arches in the corners, a standing figure of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. She stands in three-quarter view wearing a crown and mantle gathered in the front and holding her two attributes, a spiked wheel and sword. Issuing from the undulating ground on which she stands are small linear plants, their two vertical vines bearing rosettes. On the base is a French control stamp datable after 1838 (Rosenberg 1928, p. 205, no. 5881).
ProvenanceUntil about 1790, Church of Saint Martin, Angers, France; after about 1790, sold by René-Claude Chaloigne, priest at Saint Martin, to Toussaint Grille (b. 1766 - d. 1850), Angers [see note 1]; April 28, 1851, posthumous Grille sale, Palais de Marchands, Angers, lot 377, sold to M. de Saint-Maurice [see note 2]. Victoria, Queen of Prussia and Empress of Germany (b. 1840 - d. 1901), Friedrichshof, Kronberg, Germany [see note 3]. 1946, Blumka Gallery, New York; 1946, sold by Blumka to the MFA for $1000. (Accession Date: December 12, 1946)
Notes:
[1] According to Lola Fondbertasse, "Toussaint Grille (1766 - 1850), antiquiaire angevin et sa collection d'objets d'art du Moyen Age," Mémoire de recherche, École du Louvre (September 2016), p. 76, Grille acquired this from Chaloigne, the last titular priest of the church. He took up the position in 1788 and the church was dissolved in 1790.
[2] Fondbertasse 2016 (as above, note 1), p. 90.
[3] According to typed notes in the MFA curatorial file (source unknown; possibly transcribed from a German language sale or exhibition catalogue). There are also notes suggesting dealer Joseph Brummer handled it before Blumka, but this has not been verified.
Notes:
[1] According to Lola Fondbertasse, "Toussaint Grille (1766 - 1850), antiquiaire angevin et sa collection d'objets d'art du Moyen Age," Mémoire de recherche, École du Louvre (September 2016), p. 76, Grille acquired this from Chaloigne, the last titular priest of the church. He took up the position in 1788 and the church was dissolved in 1790.
[2] Fondbertasse 2016 (as above, note 1), p. 90.
[3] According to typed notes in the MFA curatorial file (source unknown; possibly transcribed from a German language sale or exhibition catalogue). There are also notes suggesting dealer Joseph Brummer handled it before Blumka, but this has not been verified.