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Container with Saint John the Baptist and Noli Me Tangere
Maker: Unidentified
French (Paris?)
Medieval (Gothic)
second or third quarter of the 14th century (?)
Object Place: Europe, Paris (?), France
Medium/Technique
Crystal or cast glass with gilded silver mounts, basse-taille enamel and gilding on silver
Dimensions
4.6 x 3.6 cm (1 13/16 x 1 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Harriet Otis Cruft Fund
Accession Number53.2374
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsGlass
DescriptionBowl mounted on a raised foot with a circular enamel, depicting the "Noli me Tangere", inserted on the underside. Three hinged bands attach the foot to a ring around the opening at the top. The lid consists of round enamel, showing John the Baptist, framed by two separate rings. Enamels are hammered, chased, enameled, and gilded. Enamel colors are opaque red and translucent green, lapis blue, and purple. John the Baptist, with a green halo partially cut off by the frame and dressed in a wide, furry mauve garment lined in purple, stands on green grass. The background is lapis-blue with a dotted lozenge design. In the "Noli me tangere", Mary Magdalene in a mauve mantle kneels to the right of Christ, with her hands raised in prayer. The resurrected Christ, with a red cross inscribed in his gilded halo and wrapped in a green and mauve mantle, holds a crossed staff in his right hand. The figures stand on a narrow strip of grass against a hatched blue ground. The chased details of the faces and body are filled with the lapis-blue enamel of the background
ProvenanceNicolas Landau (b. 1887 - d. 1979), Paris. 1953, John Hunt, London and Dublin; 1953, sold by John Hunt to the MFA for £380. (Accession Date: November 12, 1953)