silver, Spain, ca. 1600.

Small silver cross resembling a tree with short branches, supporting a figure of the crucified Christ, on a triangular base engraved with arabesque ornament and sitting on three ball and claw feet.

Dr W.L. Hildburgh Bequest

Acquired by Dr Walter Leo Hildburgh in San Sebastián (Northern Spain) in 1921.

The Spanish Church
The Catholic church dominated public and private life in Spain. Money and labour were lavished on religious art and images played a central role in daily worship. To ensure that goldsmiths focused on work for the crown and the church, the authorities brought in a series of sumptuary laws that limited the secular display of gems and precious metals.
By 1550 the silver mines in Peru and Mexico were generating enormous wealth for Spain and feeding the traditional taste for massive silver forms. They included the custodia, a towering architectural canopy that was unique to Spain. It was paraded through parishes during the Corpus Christi festival to display the Sacred Host (consecrated bread). The custodia embodied many characteristics of Spanish church plate. It was sculptural, highly visible and richly imaginative in design.
With the Counter Reformation, Spain became a triumphant defender of a revitalised Catholic faith. Silver altar vessels and entire altars, processional crosses, custodias and sanctuary lamps frequently appeared in goldsmiths’ contracts.

The small size of this cross suggests it was intended for personal devotion in the home or private chapel rather than for use in a church. The design follows a medieval tradition of depicting the cross as a tree, the new growth symbolising Christ's Resurrection after his death. This symbolism was revived after the Counter Reformation, a period of intense reform for the Roman Catholic Church from the 1540s. It was particularly favoured by the Jesuits and Franciscans, both influential religious orders in Spain.

M.160-1956