Object Name
Artist/Maker
Object Type
Date
1490-1510
Medium
boxwood
Credit Line
Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts. Purchased with Funds realized from the sale of a work given by Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Rittmaster (Eylvian Goodkind, class of 1937) in 1958
Object Number
SC 1991:23
Location
Not currently on display
Institution/Owner
Dimensions
Overall Open: 86mm × 41mm × 22mm × 41mm (8.6 × 4.1 × 2.2 × 4.1 cm)
Description
In the upper scene, Christ on the cross appears above the altar while St. Gregory (504-640?), one of the four Latin fathers of the Catholic Church, is saying mass. The miracle signifies the doctrine of transubstantiation (the real presence of Christ in the bread and wine of communion).
In the lower scene, angels crown Mary the Virgin of the Rosary.
from Smith College website
Signature, Inscriptions, and Markings
Inscription
Latin inscriptions carved around scenes and outer rims:
SIC [ENIM] DEUS DILEXIT MUNDUM Joh. III [upper outer - John 3:16]
MAIOREM HAC CARITATEM NEMO HABET Joh. XV [upper inner - John 15:13]
TOTA PULCHRA ES AMICA [MEA] Cant. IV [lower outer - Song of Solomon 4:7]
...SUAVIS ET DECORA SICUT HIERUSALEM Cant. VI [lower inner - Song of Solomon 6:3]
[source: Smith College]
SIC [ENIM] DEUS DILEXIT MUNDUM Joh. III [upper outer - John 3:16]
MAIOREM HAC CARITATEM NEMO HABET Joh. XV [upper inner - John 15:13]
TOTA PULCHRA ES AMICA [MEA] Cant. IV [lower outer - Song of Solomon 4:7]
...SUAVIS ET DECORA SICUT HIERUSALEM Cant. VI [lower inner - Song of Solomon 6:3]
[source: Smith College]
Published References
Allison Merrill, Medieval Masterworks 1200-1520 Exhibition catalogue (New York: Blumka II Gallery, 1990): no cat. no;
Catalogue Raisonné
Romanelli 53
Provenance
Previous Owner(s)
Unsorted