Skip to main content

Ciborium: M.25 & A-1904

An image of Ciborium

Terms of use

These images are provided for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons License (BY-NC-ND). To license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who will discuss fees, terms and waivers.

Download this image

Creative commons explained - what it means, how you can use our's and other people's content.

Alternative views

Object information

Current Location: In storage

Maker(s)

Maker: Unknown (Possibly)

Entities

Categories

Description

Copper, enamelled and gilt

Copper, raised, enamelled in dark blue, dark green, dark red, and white enamels, and gilded with gold leaf; brass finial. The ciborium stands on a stepped and domed circular foot rising into a lobed stem supporting a separately made depressed globular knop with lobes above and below the equator, above which is a rounded calyx with everted petals on which the bowl rests. The deep rounded bowl is lobed round its lower part and has a gilt-copper rim. The domed cover has swirling gadroons on the top, and in the centre a finial in the form of a cross. The ground of both parts is blue with a dark green border round the foot, and dark green petals on the calyx. The blue areas are decorated in gold with palmettes, flower heads and fleurs-de-lys.The lobes on the foot, knop, and cover, and the gadroons on the bowl are white; with stylized flower and foliage ornament in gold with red and blue highlights on the lobed and gadrooned areas. Round the edge of the foot there is a continuous spray of foliage, a row of scallops and a row of flowerheads all in gold.

Notes

History note: Florence where bought in 1857 by C. Redfern; W. Bateman and T. Bateman, Lomberdale House, Youlgrave, Derbyshire; sold Sotheby, Wilkson & Hodge, 14 April 1893, The Bateman Heirlooms. Catalogue of the First Portion of the Valuable and Important Collection of Works of Art & Antiquity, formed by the late W. Bateman, Esq., & T. Bateman, Esq. Of Lomberdale House, Youlgrave, Co. Derby, p. 6, lot 22; sold to Frank McClean for £61.

Legal notes

Frank McClean Bequest

Measurements and weight

Height: 33.5 cm

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1904) by McClean, Frank

Dating

15th Century, Late-16th Century, Early#
Production date: circa AD 1500

Note

A ciborium is a liturgical vessel in which the consecrated Host (bread or wafers) for the Eucharist is kept

Enamels of this type have been attributed to Venice since at least the 1850s, but recent comparisons of scientific analyses of Venetian glass and the enamels indicates that this is unlikely. Possible alternatives are elsewhere in the Veneto, Florence or elsewhere in Tuscany, see Documentation Warren (2019), Verità, et al (2018) Barbe et al (2019)

School or Style

Renaissance

People, subjects and objects depicted

Components of the work

Decoration composed of enamel ( dark blue, dark green, dark red, and white) gold
Finial composed of brass (alloy) ( probably)
Cup And Cover composed of copper
Bowl Diameter 14.9 cm
Foot Diameter 15.8 cm

Techniques used in production

Raising : Copper, raised, enamelled in dark blue, dark green, dark red, and white, and gilded
Enamelling

Inscription or legends present

Inscription present: circular paper label

  • Text: N.1.187/Cup & Cover of/Venetian Enamel/of the 15 or 16 century/Bought at Florence/by C. Redfern 1857/of extreme Value/& Importance/T.B.
  • Location: On underside of foot
  • Method of creation: Hand-written in faded black ink
  • Type: Label

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: M.25 & A-1904
Primary reference Number: 119204
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Tuesday 10 September 2019 Last processed: Friday 8 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Ciborium" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/119204 Accessed: 2024-12-18 21:24:53

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/119204 |title=Ciborium |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-18 21:24:53|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-119204

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:

<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa20/M_25_1904_20_281_29.jpg"
        alt="Ciborium"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Ciborium</figcaption>
    </figure>
</div>
    

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...