Gothic chalice from Tuscany

This chalice would have had wine poured into it during the Catholic church service of Mass. In Catholic belief, the wine becomes the blood of Christ when words of consecration are said by a priest (a solemn ritual first created by Christ on the night before his death).

Made in Italy in 1365, the chalice stands some 35 centimetres tall. The plain deep bowl is held up on a six-sided stem, with a wide foot to balance it when full. A bulb shape, halfway up the stem, allowed the priest to get a better grip.

The bowl is made of silver which was then covered with a thin layer of gold. The gold is a lighter colour on the outside, where the chalice has been handled repeatedly. Silver was always used for the bowl, as the metal was thought pure enough to hold the blood of Christ.

The bowl is cradled on a cluster of small leaves at the top of the stem. The stem and foot are made of copper, again covered with a thin layer of gold. Decorative patterns were made by scratching through the gold to show the copper underneath. Over the years, much of the gold has been rubbed away so that the pinky-orange of the copper shows through in irregular patches.

The bulb halfway up the stem is decorated with 6 round enamel medallions, each of which contains an image. The images are faint and indistinct, worn over time, but we can just make out the face of Christ on the medallion facing to the front.

Beneath the bulb, a Latin inscription runs around the stem, telling us that the chalice belonged to the prior of the Guild of St. Michael, which was probably in Florence, Italy. The high quality of the materials and workmanship was fitting for a prestigious vessel that would have played a central role in the Church services of the Guild.