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Morse or pendant
View: Front
Badge with Virgin and Child and Saint Sebastian
Morse or pendant
Lower Rhineland or Netherlandish
Medieval (Gothic)
late 15th century (?)
Object Place: Europe, Germany, Lower Rhine
Medium/Technique
Gilded silver (plate: 95.8% silver, 2.4% copper, 1.4% gold, .4% lead; figures: 93.2%-94.2% silver, 4-5% copper, 1.2-1.3% gold, .4-.5% lead)
Dimensions
DIAM: 13.6 cm (5 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
H. E. Bolles Fund
Accession Number63.121
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsMetalwork
DescriptionCircular plate with two soldered loops at the top, decorated on the front with vegetal ornament and figures of the Virgin and Child and Saint Sebastian beneath three Gothic canopies. The plate comprises a central circle, a concentric plaque, and a rim, all of sheet metal, hammered and soldered together. Three concentric grooved wires are soldered to the plate (two in the seams). Two wider semicircular tooled rods with leaves soldered around it form a garland joined to the plate with silver cotter pins. Attached to both ends where the two rods meet at the bottom are chased strips of silver curled to resemble ribbons. Cut from sheet metal, the chased leaves have veins soldered on. A border comprising four twisted strips of silver with scalloped edges is soldered to the rim. The Gothic canopies, pillars and base are cast in one piece and riveted to the plate. Except for the pear in the Virgin's right hand, which is cast separately and soldered, the standing Virgin and Child with gilded crown and hair are cast in one piece, as is Saint Sebastian and the stake to which he is tied with wire. (The gilded arrows are soldered on.) All figures are attached to the plate with rivets.
ProvenanceBy 1963, with Leopold Blumka, Blumka Gallery, New York; 1963, sold by Blumka to the MFA for $1,200. (Accession Date: February 13, 1963)