Silver filigree, the smaller beads in red coral. Spanish (?) seventeenth century.; Germany; Jewellery, local and traditional

Rosary comprising of coral beads with silver filigree spacer beads, filigree credo cross attached with thread to larger filigree cross pendant.

Private Devotion
The objects in this display are of two kinds. They include pieces made for use in private chapels, such as plate and shrines, as well as personal objects like reliquaries and jewels used in private devotions. It was mainly the great houses, like Chatsworth, Hatfield and Arundel Castle, that had a private chapel. They held services for the family, their guests and servants and had their own altar plate. Many of the objects made for private chapels were similar to those made for parish churches.

Jewelled religious objects are used as an aid to prayer and were found in a much wider social context. Reliquary pendants act as a focus for devotion through the relics or images of saints they contain, while the rosary provides a discipline and structure for private prayer. Such pieces are often treasured personal possessions, passed down through generations.

Rosaries are used to count prayers, each bead representing a prayer. A larger bead represents the 'Paternoster' (the Lord's Prayer), and a smaller one an 'Ave Maria' ('Hail Mary'). Because rosaries are frequently used, they can get broken or worn out. The cross is not original to this rosary, although may come from a similar piece. This kind of filigree work is typical of the Schwäbisch Gmünd area of Southern Germany.

101-1865