Reichenau Crozier
Pastoral Staff
1351 (made)
1351 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The crozier, also known as a pastoral staff, is a symbol of office used by bishops and mitred abbots. Its form is generally believed to symbolise a shepherd's crook, emphasising the role of the bishop or abbot in guiding his flock. The crozier would have been held by a napkin or sudarium, which hung from the lower part of the knop - every alternate buttress of the knop's tabernacle is pierced for the cord with which to suspend it.
The origin of this crozier can be reconstructed from the inscription on it. Eberhard of Brandis was abbot of Reichenau 1343-1379. According to the chronicles of the abbey, he was responsible for impoverishing the community through his careless and spendthrift character. The inscription suggests that the crozier, although made for Eberhard, who must be the kneeling figure shown praying to the Virgin and Child, was commissioned by the abbey's treasurer, Nicholas of Gutenberg, who may well be the smaller figure represented praying beneath the angel.
The crozier was owned in the nineteenth century by the Russian collector Prince Soltikoff, and was bought from the Soltikoff sale of 1862 on behalf of the Museum by the dealer and collector John Webb. Its provenance before this is unknown, but it has generally been assumed to have come onto the market during the monastic suppressions of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
The origin of this crozier can be reconstructed from the inscription on it. Eberhard of Brandis was abbot of Reichenau 1343-1379. According to the chronicles of the abbey, he was responsible for impoverishing the community through his careless and spendthrift character. The inscription suggests that the crozier, although made for Eberhard, who must be the kneeling figure shown praying to the Virgin and Child, was commissioned by the abbey's treasurer, Nicholas of Gutenberg, who may well be the smaller figure represented praying beneath the angel.
The crozier was owned in the nineteenth century by the Russian collector Prince Soltikoff, and was bought from the Soltikoff sale of 1862 on behalf of the Museum by the dealer and collector John Webb. Its provenance before this is unknown, but it has generally been assumed to have come onto the market during the monastic suppressions of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Reichenau Crozier (popular title) |
| Materials and techniques | Copper gilt, enamel, silver |
| Brief description | Pastoral staff of gilt copper partly encrusted with translucent enamel on silver and set with gems. |
| Physical description | Gilt copper partly encrusted with translucent enamel on silver and set with gems. In the volute is a group in gilt metal of the Virgin and Child, with a kneeling figure of a mitred abbot, below is an angel (wings now lost), supporting the group; below is a further tonsured figure in prayer. The knop is formed as a tabernacle, whose buttresses originally had pinnacles, now lost. It is decorated in each niche with enamelled plaques representing figures of the Virgin, Three Magi, Mary Magdalene and a bishop saint, probably to be identified as St Pirminius, first abbot of Reichenau. At some point, these enamels have been removed and replaced in the wrong order, so that the Magi now flank the Virgin and Child. Dated 1351. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | A.D. M.CCC.L.I. F[a]C[t]VS. E[st]. BAC[u]L[u]S. ISTE
D[omi]NO. EB[erhardo].D[e]. BRA[n]DIS, ABB[at]E. HON[orabilis]. P[rae]SIDENTE
D[omi]NO. NICOL[ao]. D[e]. GUTENB[er]G. THES[aurario]. IBIDE[m]. AVG[i]A. [m]AIOR[e]. P[er]. C[onventum or apitulum].
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| Gallery label | REICHENAU CROZIER
Copper gilt, with plaques of silver and translucent enamel
Constance; 1351
From the Soltikoff Collection
The Latin inscription indicates that the crozier was made for the Abbot Master Eberhard of Brandis in 1351, through his treasurer Nicholas of Gutenberg.
Eberhard, Abbot of the island monastery of Reichenau on Lke Constance between 1343 and 1379, is probably the mitred figure kneeling to the Virgin and Child within the crook, while the figure of his treasurer, Nicholas, kneels beneath the supporting angel. The knop is set with enamelled plaques representing the Virgin and Child, the Three Magi, Mary Magdelen, and an abbot, perhaps St. Pirmin, first abbot of Reichenau. |
| Object history | Provenance: collection of Monsieur Dugué, Paris before 1851 (sold 1851 in Paris); collection of Prince Peter Soltykoff, Paris (sold 1861 in Paris); bought from the Soltykoff sale by the dealer and collector John Webb on behalf of the South Kensington Museum (now V&A); entered the museum in 1862. Its provenance before this is unknown, but it has generally been assumed to have come onto the market during the monastic suppressions of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The early history of the crozier can be reconstructed from the inscription on the piece. Eberhard of Brandis was abbot of Reichenau 1343-1379. According to the chronicles of the abbey, he was responsible for impoverishing the community through his careless and spendthrift character. The inscription suggests that the crozier, although made for Eberhard, who must be the figure shown praying to the Virgin and Child, was commissioned by the abbey's treasurer, Nicholas of Gutenberg, who may well be the smaller figure represented praying beneath the angel. Historical significance: The fact that this piece is dated, and that its original ownership is known, makes it a particularly important piece for understanding the production of metalwork and enamels in Southern Germany in the mid-fourteenth century. |
| Historical context | The crozier is a symbol of office used by bishops and mitred abbots. Its form is sometimes interpreted as symbolising a shepherd's crook, emphasising the role of the bishop or abbot in guiding his flock. Other authors have traced an affinity with the "lituus", or rod used by the Roman augurs in their divinations. The crozier would have been held by a napkin or sudarium, which hung from the lower part of the knop - every alternate buttress of the knop's tabernacle is pierced for the cord to suspend it. It is worth noting that although the Reichenau crozier is a sumptuously decorated piece, it is rather coarser in execution than some of the other surviving fourteenth century metal croziers. This, along with the fact that the crozier is mainly of copper gilt rather than the silver gilt of other examples such as the crozier in Cologne Cathedral, means that the V&A crozier was a slightly cheaper commission. The crozier would still have been new when its owner, Eberhard of Brandis, received the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV at Reichenau Abbey in 1353, an occasion when the crozier would almost certainly have been used. |
| Production | A number of similar fourteenth century metalwork croziers survive, across Northern and Southern Europe: examples exist in Italy (Città di Castello) and England (New College, Oxford). Closer comparisons exist in the Netherlands (Haarlem) and Germany (Cologne). However, as H.P. Mitchell pointed out, 'in spite of their general similarity...these [the enamels] are widely different in style.' What the general similarities between these enamelled croziers suggest is a shared European taste at this date. Although the exact place of production for this piece is not specified in the inscription, the style of the enamels is undoubtedly German. Close similarities exist between the enamels of the crozier and the slightly earlier chalice from St Johann zu Constanz of about 1320 in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. Constance was a goldsmithing centre, and Reichenau lay within its diocese, so this is a likely place of production. In the nineteenth century, before the inscription had been deciphered, there was an erroneous tradition that this piece came from the Basel Cathedral treasury. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | The crozier, also known as a pastoral staff, is a symbol of office used by bishops and mitred abbots. Its form is generally believed to symbolise a shepherd's crook, emphasising the role of the bishop or abbot in guiding his flock. The crozier would have been held by a napkin or sudarium, which hung from the lower part of the knop - every alternate buttress of the knop's tabernacle is pierced for the cord with which to suspend it. The origin of this crozier can be reconstructed from the inscription on it. Eberhard of Brandis was abbot of Reichenau 1343-1379. According to the chronicles of the abbey, he was responsible for impoverishing the community through his careless and spendthrift character. The inscription suggests that the crozier, although made for Eberhard, who must be the kneeling figure shown praying to the Virgin and Child, was commissioned by the abbey's treasurer, Nicholas of Gutenberg, who may well be the smaller figure represented praying beneath the angel. The crozier was owned in the nineteenth century by the Russian collector Prince Soltikoff, and was bought from the Soltikoff sale of 1862 on behalf of the Museum by the dealer and collector John Webb. Its provenance before this is unknown, but it has generally been assumed to have come onto the market during the monastic suppressions of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | 7950-1862 |
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| Record created | August 12, 2005 |
| Record URL |
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