Marble tabernacle with bronze door, with depictions of the Christ Child Blessing, the Holy Spirit in the form of a Dove, the Man of Sorrows and the Rucellai arms.

The central section is framed by sloping sides decorated with stars enclosed in stapled circles. At the top is the Holy Spirit in the shape of a dove. The central aperture is closed by a gilt bronze door, engraved with the Pietà and a border of flowers and foliage. At either side are pilasters, carved with vases of fruit and flowers, which support an entablature with a moulded architrave, a frieze ornamented with winged cherub heads, and a moulded cornice. In the centre of the pediment is the Child Christ, with right hand raised in benediction. The predella, which has a carved and moulded border above and below, displays a label with an inscription. Beneath on a triangular console an eagle with outstretched wings hold in its claws a shield with the arms of Rucellai.

The altarpiece was purchased in Florence for £450 in 1859 at the same time as the Ferrucci altarpiece. Both were said to have been in the church of San Girolamo in Fiesole outside Florence. The Order of San Girolamo was suppressed in 1668 and the church and many of its contents passed into the hands of the Bardi family. In 1798 it passed to the Ricasoli family, was restored, and the sculptures were later purchased from a sculptor's studio in Florence.

Historical significance: This is not a securely documented work by Andrea Ferrucci, and some scholars have questioned its attribution. Riccardo Naldi did not include the tabernacle in his monograph on Andrea Ferrucci, and commented that some confusion has arisen from this attribution (Naldi, p.24 footnote 41). However, he does not provide an alternative attribution, nor do all of the works which he cites as the work of Andrea appear to come from the same hand.

The attribution in part comes from the fact that in 1859 it was purchased with the Altarpiece (V&A 6724-1859) executed by Ferrucci and with both items securely documented as having come from the church of San Girolamo in Fiesole. Though Giorgio Vasari did not mention the tabernacle when he described the Ferrucci altarpiece, both the altarpiece and a tabernacle were described by Bandini in 1776 in a letter describing the churches of Fiesole. He attributed the tabernacle to Ferrucci and though he saw it in the sacristy, suggested it may have been on the high altar at one point. (Bandini, p. 87). Stylistic similarities between the tabernacle and the altarpiece suggest they were both executed by Ferrucci.

Tabernacles are used to hold the consecrated host or relics. The terms “ciborium” and “tabernacle” are sometimes used interchangeably, though strictly speaking the tabernacle holds the pyx which contains the consecrated host, while the ciborium is shaped liked a cup and directly holds the consecrated host. The pyx is an even smaller vessel designed to hold the wafer, and can be placed inside the tabernacle. During the early Christian period and the Middle Ages, there were no firm regulations on where the consecrated host was to be kept as long as it was secure. Two synods – at Cologne (1281) and Münster (1279) – determined that the sacrament must be locked in a receptacle above the altar, but did not specify the type of container or a more specific location. The sacrament was therefore preserved in pyxes, ciboria or tabernacles which could be in a cupboard in the sacristy, on the high altar, or on a nearby altar. It could also be housed in small containers in the form of doves or chalices which were suspended over the altar. This practice was especially popular in England and France from the tenth century until its prohibition in 1863, when the Catholic church determined that the host should be kept in tabernacles either on or near the high altar. Tabernacles could be either freestanding or incorporated into the wall above the altar.

One of the most famous wall tabernacles in Florence was Desiderio da Settignano’s tabernacle in San Lorenzo (1461). Elements of this, such as the blessing Christ Child at the top, the kneeling angels, the shield-bearing putti and the fictive architecture surrounding the tabernacle door soon provided models for sculpted altarpieces and wall tabernacles throughout Tuscany, especially among Desiderio’s immediate followers. The tabernacle demonstrates Andrea Ferrucci’s familiarity with the works of Desiderio da Settignano especially in the figure of the blessing Christ Child at the top, which is based on Desiderio’s figure.

Ferrucci was initially trained by his cousin Francesco di Simone Ferrucci and therefore would have absorbed Desiderio’s influence through Francesco, who may also have assisted Andrea del Verrocchio. According to Vasari, Andrea Ferrucci was then trained by Michele Maiani da Fiesole (who had worked in Rome) and went on to work in Imola, Naples, Rome, Pistoia, Fiesole and Florence. By 1508 he was documented in Florence, though it is known that he travelled to Naples during that year. In 1512 he was elected the capomaestro (head of building works) for the Florence cathedral, a position he held until he died in 1526.

Vasari praised his work though claimed Andrea accomplished it without the benefit of knowing “the principles of disegno” – a term that for Vasari meant both drawing and design. He also noted that Andrea began his career by carving leaves and foliage, which gave him a “resolute and quick hand.”

The Rucellai arms (per bend, in chief a lion passant, in base, barry indented) on the tabernacle give at least the family name of the patron. Since the tomb slab of Girolamo di Piero di Cardinale Rucellai was described as near an altar on the left of the church of San Girolamo in Fiesole, it has been assumed that he commissioned the Ferrucci tabernacle, though there is no documentary proof of this (Pope-Hennessy,182). Rucellai is also thought to have commissioned a painting by Francesco Botticini depicting St Jerome, Pope Damasus, Sts Paula and Eustochium (now at the National Gallery in London, see Davies, pp.118-120). F. W. Kent remarked that Girolamo di Piero di Cardinale de’ Rucellai’s burial in the church of San Girolamo in Fiesole was a departure from the typical sites of burial for Rucellai men – most chose to be buried in the ancestral tombs at either Santa Maria Novella or San Pancrazio in Florence (Kent, 262). Kent also noted that Rucellai’s departure from the norm should not be seen as a rejection of his family – certainly the inscription of his family name, and, if he was the one to have commissioned Ferrucci, the large coat of arms on the tabernacle publicize his Rucellai heritage and possibly his (rather distant) connection with the Medici family by having the Medici emblem of feathers within a diamond ring incorporated into the pilasters of the painting. However, Cardini noted that both the Rucellai and the Salimbeni family used the symbol of the diamond ring, as did the Sforza and the Este and it was not therefore “exclusive to the Medici.” The Rucellai also used the feather device (Cardini, 73).

The large bird holding the Rucellai coats of arms at the bottom of the tabernacle might be either an eagle or a falcon. Cardini mentioned that falcons were not often used in heraldry while at the same time noting the Medici inventory of 1492 recorded a standard with an falcon on it (Cardini, 67, 70). The curve of the head, and the shape of the beak of this bird is similar to those of the birds described as falcons found on the lavabo in the church of San Lorenzo in Florence and on the rear of the tabernacle in San Miniato a Monte, both commissioned by Piero the Gouty, who used as one of his emblems the falcon holding a diamond ring with a ribbon inscribed SEMPER. (For images see Cardini, 70). Though the meaning of the falcon is still unclear, one scholar has seen it as Piero’s citation of an Egyptian symbol of divinity as per descriptions in Horapollo’s fifth- century Hyeroglyphica (Cardini, 67 citing Parronchi) Such an interpretation would be appropriate for a tabernacle, which according to Christian belief housed the divine body of Christ.

Eagles were commonly used as heraldic devices. Since the bird is gripping the Rucellai shield in his talons, it may have been intended to represent an eagle. An engraving in Alciato’s Diverse Imprese of 1551 showed an eagle with open wings alighting with open wings on top of the tomb of Aristomenes, the legendary King of Messina who resisted the Spartans for eleven years, and thus an eagle was seen as an appropriate emblem to decorate the tomb of strong men. The tabernacle has long been associated with the tomb of Girolamo di Piero di Cardinale Rucellai, and the choice of an eagle to bear the arms of the Rucellai could suggest that the tabernacle was placed near the tomb.

The inscription on the tabernacle, “hic est panis vivus qui de cello descendit” (this the living bread that descends from Heaven) seems to be a combination of John 6:50 “Hic est panis de caelo descendens ut si quis ex ipso manducaverit non moriatur” (“This is the bread which comes down from heaven: that if any man eat of it, he may not die” and John 6:51 “Ego sum panis vivus qui de caelo descendi” (“I am the living bread which came down from heaven”). Both inscriptions were common features of Renaissance wall tabernacles.

This tabernacle, by Andrea Ferrucci, came from the church of San Girolamo in Fiesole, outside Florence. Tabernacles are used to house the consecrated host or relics. The engraved door with the Body of Christ suggests this would have been used to hold the Eucharist. The large bird below holds the coat of arms of a member of the Rucellai family, possibly Girolamo di Piero di Cardinale de'Rucellai, who was buried in the church.

6743-1859