British artist, Grail with Sacrament, About 1400. Stained glass and lead; 14 1/4 × 12 1/2 in. (36.2 × 31.75 cm). Gift of the Berger Collection Educational Trust, 2020.12

height: 14 1/4 in, 36.195 cm; width: 12 1/2 in, 31.75 cm; depth: 1/2 in, 1.27 cm; overall height: 15 1/8 in, 38.4175 cm

European and American Art Before 1900

European Painting and Sculpture before 1900

Artist not known

Grail with Sacrament, about 1400

Glass, lead

14 1/5 x 12 ½ in. (36 x 32 cm)

Glass, lead

Inscribed, Bella premu[n]t hostilia Da robur fer auxilium [“Our foes press on from every side, thine aid supply, thy strength bestow.”]

Promised Gift of the Berger Collection Educational Trust, TL-18555

This piece of stained glass represents the two elements of the Christian ritual of the Eucharist: a grail, the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, and the host, or sacramental bread. Around the image is a scroll on which is inscribed an excerpt from a thirteenth-century hymn, “O salutaris hostia.” The piece is composed of the stained glass element set within a frame of lead and clear glass. It was created at a time when England was still Roman Catholic. It was likely cut from a church window, possibly to be replaced by an alternate image. The piece could represent an effort to salvage elements from a Roman Catholic church stripped of religious art following Henry VIII’s founding of the Church of England.

Private collection, England; Sarandon Associates, Tortola, British Virgin Islands; from which acquired by William M. B. and Bernadette Berger, Denver, 1997; Berger Collection Educational Trust; gifted to the Denver Art Museum, 2020. Provenance research is on-going at the Denver Art Museum and we will post information as it becomes available. Please e-mail provenance@denverartmuseum.org, if you have questions, or if you have additional information to share with us.