Silver, Dutch ('s-Hertogenbosch), 1555-56; Willem Geverts.

Small cylindrical pyx, silver, partly gilded. The knop on the lid is in the form of a cast figure of Christ, crowned with thorns and holding a column; three cast lions as feet. The sides of the pyx embossed with three Biblical scenes. Two are Old Testament: Melchisedek offering wine and bread to Abraham, and Manna falling from heaven to feed the Israelites. The third scene is from the New Testament and depicts the Last Supper. The lid decorated with a raised pattern of lobes.

Given by Dr W.L. Hildburgh

Willem Geverts (or Willem van Gewert) was a s'Hertogenbosch silversmith. He became a master goldsmith in May 1550, although he was active as early as 1537, when records show he had an apprentice. During his career he had six apprentices (the last in 1557) and evidence of his activities ceases in 1567-68 (see Koldeweij, 1985, p.41).
The name of the earliest owner of the pyx is engraved on the base. Alyt Henricks was a member of a wealthy family from Oirschot (in the Southern Netherlands). She was a nun at the convent of St Elizabeth Bloemenkamp 'behind the toll-bridge' in the northern Dutch town of 's-Hertogenbosch. A report on the convent drawn up on 16 January 1571 by Bishop Metsius lists 'Aleijdis Henricx van Oirschot' among the nuns, and notes her age (23) and the length of time she had been a nun (5 years) (see Schutjes, 1874, IV, p. 484; Koldeweij, 1990, p.300). Convents based in urban locations tended to be wealthier than those in the country, and the convent of St Elizabeth was one of the richest in the area. Alyt would have spent her years as a nun in comfort: she would have lived in a private cell which included a hearth for cooking, and she received an annual sum of 15 guilders to spend as she pleased (see van de Meerendonk, 1964, pp. 130-31). She took her vows at age eighteen, and was just eight when the pyx was made. Alyt almost certainly received the pyx as a gift and took it with her into the convent, although the date it was presented to her is unknown (Koldeweij, 1990, p.300; Davies and Kennedy, 2009, p.290).
A strip of silver inserted at a later date to divide the interior of the pyx into compartments for holy oils shows the casket continued to be used in an ecclesiastical context when no longer owned by Alyt.
Dr W. L. Hildburgh acquired the casket in London in the autumn of 1928 and presented it to the Museum in 1952.

Historical significance: This pyx is significant on two counts. It is a rare example of a sixteenth-century object that can be traced to a known owner. It also shows the speed at which print designs circulated and were taken up as source material for goldsmiths. Two of the scenes on the side of the pyx are based on prints by the 's-Hertogenbosch-born printmaker Cornelis Bos. Bos had published the image of the 'Last Supper' in 1550; his depiction of Abraham and Melchisedek appeared in 1555, the year before Geverts made the pyx. The short time which elapsed between publication and Gevert's use of these sources suggests that Bos, fleeing religious persecution in Antwerp, may have returned briefly to 's-Hertogenbosch before his death in Groningen in 1556 (see Koldeweij, 1990, p.300 and Filedt Kok et al, 1986, cat. no. 262 for reproductions of the Bos engravings juxtaposed with the pyx).

A pyx is a casket for the circular wafers of bread (hosts) that are blessed and eaten by a Christian priest and his congregation during the celebration of the sacrament of the Eucharist at mass. The wafers are symbolic of Christ's body, which He sacrificed in order to redeem the sins of mankind. The subject-matter of the scenes which often appear on pyxes identifies the specific function of this casket type. Pyxes were usually decorated with images or symbols that allude to Christ's sacrifice. This one shows two scenes from the Old Testament that involve food and which prefigure Christ's last supper with His followers, when he foretold His crucifixion and how to commemorate His sacrifice. The third scene on the side of this pyx depicts the Last Supper. The finial on the lid shows Christ before His crucifixion, stripped and crowned with thorns.
Female spirituality in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries focussed on the sacred heart and blood of the crucified Christ (see Hamburger, 1997, pp. 124-25). The heart which Alyt incorporates into the engraving of her name on the base is probably a reference to this particular aspect of her religious devotion. There is no record of whether Alyt kept her pyx in her cell, to meditate upon its imagery, or whether she offered it for use in the convent chapel. If the pyx had been used in the chapel, Alyt would not have opened it herself to remove the hosts at mass, as only male priests were allowed to officiate at the ceremony. Furthermore, the constitutions of many convents limited the number of times a week that nuns could receive communion (see Hamburger, 1992, p. 125).
The pyx was later transformed into a chrismatory, a container for consecrated oils used to annoint people at baptism, confirmation, and just before death.

The religious scenes of feasting embossed on the sides of this casket identify it as a pyx. Pyxes are used to hold the bread wafers that miraculously become the body of Christ during the most solemn part of the Catholic mass. This pyx was made in 1556-57 by the goldsmith Willem Geverts in 's-Hertogenbosch (in the province of North Brabant, south-eastern Netherlands). Geverts based some of the decoration on the pyx on prints of Biblical scenes by the engraver Cornelis Bos. Alyt Henricks, a nun in the convent of St Elizabeth in the town of 's-Hertogenbosch owned this pyx. Her name is engraved on the underside.

M.41-1952