Liturgical vessel or monstrance, silver, parcel-gilt, probably south Germany, 1840-1850

Twisted openwork spire surmounted by a crucifix and serving as the canopy for a statuette of the Virgin and Child which caps the hexangonal dome surrounded by openwork tracery. The above is supported by two twisted, canopied niches containing figures of St. Peter and St Paul. The hexagonal stem which is engraved with tracery, is surmounted by a capital which bears two enamelled coats of arms; (front: Party per chevron gules and arg, two lilies conjoined countercharged; back argent three thistles proper, in chief gules, three roses argent), depressed knop with six lozenge shaped bosses engraved with two crosses and the symbols of the evangelists. Spreading foot with four rounded and two ogee lobes engraved with 1) The Saviour, 2) St. Catherine, 3) a crowned female martyr, 4) The Virgin and Child, 5) St. Barbara, 6) a crowned female martyr holding a pyx.

Given by W.L. Hildburgh

Originally thought to have dated from c.1530, this object is now recognised as a piece of 19th century historicism. This object was displayed in the Fakes Gallery during the 1990s. A note in the Metalwork Section register attributes the workmanship of this piece to the late-nineteenth-century Bossard workshop in Lucerne, but it does not bear the Bossard mark and so the attribution is perhaps unlikely.

The Gothic Revival
In the Victorian period a dramatic and profound change took place in religious life. Centred on a renewed interest in the Middle Ages, it affected the appearance of churches and how services were conducted. The influential architect A.W.N. Pugin promoted the Gothic as the true Christian style. Although Pugin was Catholic, his theory appealed to Anglicans of the Oxford Movement - radicals who hoped to restore pre-Reformation services to the Church of England.

The Cambridge Camden Society, founded in 1839, studied the past to identify the medieval architecture and furnishings that would be appropriate for the revived services. The society became an arbiter of style, offering an Anglicised version of the Gothic. By the 1870s some of the equipment normally found in Catholic worship, such as the ciborium, was appearing in Anglican churches.

It was not universally welcomed. Some observers found the incense, the altar cross and the emphasis on ritual scandalously 'Popish' or 'high church'.

The Gothic Revival in Europe
The Gothic revival in Europe owed more to nationalism than religious zeal. The completion of Cologne's medieval cathedral was an affirmation of German culture. In the Habsburg empire, Czechs and Hungarians similarly expressed national pride through Gothic architecture.

Champions of the Gothic claimed by the 1850s that the style was triumphant in Europe. But classical architecture remained a serious rival, even in church building. Much of the most important Gothic work was in church restoration. In Germany and France, goldsmiths like Franz Xaver Hellner supplied Gothic church furnishings.

A monstrance was used in Roman Catholic worship to display the Sacred Host, or consecrated bread. It was placed on the altar or held up in procession, particularly at the Feast of Corpus Christi (the ‘body of Christ).

Many manufacturers copied or adapted medieval designs to sell as church furnishings or to collectors. This monstrance has an eclectic mix of stylistic details from the 15th century and later. Together with the prominent but false maker’s mark, they suggest it was made to deceive a collector rather than for a church.

M.1-1952