Grail with Sacrament
- British artist
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
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.
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