Pendant
1650-1700, 1800-1870
| Place of origin |
This is one of two book-shaped pendants in the Museum collections (the other is V&A 179-1872), and there are similar examples in the holdings of the Courtauld Gallery and the Walters Art Museum. The book-form recalls little sixteenth-century enamelled gold devotional books that hung from the girdles of their owners, but the construction of this example is crude and the iconography does not appear to have a particular devotional focus. Two of the reverse painted glass panels in one of the book 'covers' have been inserted upside down, these are the panels which show a sacred heart and Christ in the Garden of Gesthemane (the 'Agony in the Garden', where Christ retired with his disciples before his betrayal and crucifixion). The image on another panel is too damaged to be legible, while the damaged panel on the back of the 'book' appears to show Christ's mother, Mary, crowned as queen of Heaven, with the infant Christ on her lap. These book pendants all have suspension loops at the top and base of the book, which could suggest they were in fact strung on a rosary rather than suspended at the wearer's neck or waist. While the quality of the painting on the glass panels is often high, that of the metal mounts for these panels seems crude by comparison, and the scenes depicted on some of the panels sometimes appear to have been cut down. This suggests they were not originally designed for the rectangular shape of the book which encloses them. None of these hollow books appears designed to hold relics, as these would have obscured the imagery on the reverse painted glass panels set inside. These inconsistencies make it difficult to assign a definite function and date to the pieces.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Silver-gilt, set with reverse painted glass. |
| Brief description | Small silver-gilt case in the form of a book, with religious scenes in reverse painted glass set into the front and back, and on the inside. Probably Germany, the glass plaques possibly 17th c, the metal mounts probably 1800-1870. |
| Physical description | Small silver-gilt case in the shape of a book, set on the front and back with four reverse painted glass plaques, placed back to back with one another. On the front cover, an image of the sacred heart (inserted upside down); the plaque placed inside the book, on the back of this one, depicts the Agony in the Garden (also inserted upside down). The back cover of the book is set with what appears to be an image of the Virgin Mary enthroned; the panel set back to back with this one, on the inside, is too damaged to be decipherable. There is a loop attached to the top of the case, and another to the base. |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Alfred Williams Hearn Gift |
| Object history | Described as a 'pendant [...] South German; 16th century' in the Museum register, the piece was given to the Museum in 1923 (along with a number of other objects) by Mrs Ellen Hearn of Menton, France, in memory of her late husband Alfred Williams Hearn. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This is one of two book-shaped pendants in the Museum collections (the other is V&A 179-1872), and there are similar examples in the holdings of the Courtauld Gallery and the Walters Art Museum. The book-form recalls little sixteenth-century enamelled gold devotional books that hung from the girdles of their owners, but the construction of this example is crude and the iconography does not appear to have a particular devotional focus. Two of the reverse painted glass panels in one of the book 'covers' have been inserted upside down, these are the panels which show a sacred heart and Christ in the Garden of Gesthemane (the 'Agony in the Garden', where Christ retired with his disciples before his betrayal and crucifixion). The image on another panel is too damaged to be legible, while the damaged panel on the back of the 'book' appears to show Christ's mother, Mary, crowned as queen of Heaven, with the infant Christ on her lap. These book pendants all have suspension loops at the top and base of the book, which could suggest they were in fact strung on a rosary rather than suspended at the wearer's neck or waist. While the quality of the painting on the glass panels is often high, that of the metal mounts for these panels seems crude by comparison, and the scenes depicted on some of the panels sometimes appear to have been cut down. This suggests they were not originally designed for the rectangular shape of the book which encloses them. None of these hollow books appears designed to hold relics, as these would have obscured the imagery on the reverse painted glass panels set inside. These inconsistencies make it difficult to assign a definite function and date to the pieces. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | M.66-1923 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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