Silver-gilt, Spanish (Cuenca), 1580-90, maker's mark of Noe Manuel only but probably the work of Noe Manuel and Jorge de Alcantara.

Monstrance and chalice combined, upper part richly decorated with strapwork and openwork, with 2 angels kneeling on brackets, 3 small bells, baluster stem, circular foot, strapwork, fruit and masks.

Nothing is known of the original owner of this combined chalice and monstrance. In the nineteenth century it belonged to the archaeologist and politician Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894), and notes in the Museum registers suggest he acquired it at Toledo. Layard lent the piece to the South Kensington Museum in 1873, and in 1882 the Museum purchased it from him for the sum of £400.
The mark 'NOE' over 'M', until recently unidentified, belongs to the Flemish goldsmith Noe Manuel, who worked in Cuenca during the mid- to late-sixteenth century, in partnership with fellow countryman Jorge de Alcantara. Manuel and Alcantara were briefly appointed assay masters for Cuenca in February-March 1581. The evidence of Manuel's first will, drafted in 1579, suggests he mostly produced church plate, although his inventory of items includes 'a porringer' ('una porcelana') and 'mounts for a coconut [cup]' ('una guarnición de un coco').

A chalice holds the consecrated wine which miraculously becomes the blood of Christ during the Catholic mass. A monstrance displays a circular wafer of bread which has been consecrated by a Catholic priest and which is called the Host. In Catholic churches across Europe the vessels which contain this consecrated wine and bread are usually separate, but in sixteenth-century Spain combining them was a popular alternative. Recycling a chalice as a monstrance base was economical, and it also reinforced the spiritual and symbolic message of the wine and bread. This practice was especially common in Castile, where this example was made by two Flemish goldsmiths resident in Cuenca, Noe Manuel and Jorge de Alcantara. In this case, the chalice and monstrance appear to have been made at the same time.

146:1, 2-1882