
Oliver Cornish
Sale Coordinator for Furniture, Sculpture, Rugs & Tapestries
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Sold for £2,560 inc. premium
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Sale Coordinator for Furniture, Sculpture, Rugs & Tapestries
Provenance
Acquired from Arthur Davidson, 1971.
A monstrance (also known as an ostensorium) is a vessel used to display the consecrated Eucharistic host (the sacramental bread), carried in processions and exhibited during certain devotional ceremonies. Both terms, monstrance and ostensorium, are derived from Latin words (monstrare and ostendere) meaning "to show".
First used in France and Germany in the 14th century when popular devotion to the Blessed Sacrament emerged, monstrances were modelled after pyxes or reliquaries—sacred vessels used to transport the host or relics. The host is held in a device called a lunette, which fits into an opening behind the glass.