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Chalice-shaped reliquary or pyxis (?) (General)

Chalice-shaped reliquary or pyxis (?) (General)
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Detail, Joshua

Detail

Detail, possibly Godfrey of Bouillon

General

Detail

Detail, King Arthur

Detail, Charlemagne

Detail, possibly Hector

Detail

Subject
Secular.

Repository Institution
www.domkammer-muenster.de

To purchase an image
www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr


Münster, Domkammer der Katedralkirche St. Paulus (Saint Paul Cathedral Treasury)

Inv. E.35

Gold;ivory;silver

Height: 375mm

Nine Worthies in armour with shields bearing coats of arms: Alexander the Great holding a shield (rampant lion, sword). Godfrey of Bouillon holding a shield (simplified Jerusalem cross?). Joshua holding a shield (dragon). Charlemagne holding a parted shield (eagle; fleur-de-lys). King Arthur holding a shield (three crowns).
King David, Julius Caesar, Hector of Troy and Judas Maccabeus are difficult to identify with certainty as their coats of arms do not seem to correspond to the usual heraldry for the Nine Worthies.
Note: the order above has not been verified.

Koechlin 1924: German (Westphalia), 15th century.
Museum's opinion 2013: Münster (?), c. 1380-1400.


Attribution
Unknown

Reverse
Carved in the round.

Provenance
In the Treasury of Saint Paul's Cathedral in Münster.

Bibliography
R. Koechlin, Les Ivoires gothiques français (Paris, 1924), I, pp. 351 and 454.
P. Pieper, Der Domschatz zu Münster (Münster, 1981), no. 53.
G. Jászai, Die Domkammer der Kathedralkirche St. Paulus in Münster (Münster, 1991), pp. 85-86.


Image

© Bibliothèque des Arts décoratifs, Paris, Collection Maciet. Volume 325/14.

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