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Tower-shaped finial
Finial
Tower-shaped finial
German (?)
Medieval (Gothic)
mid-14th–mid-15th century
Object Place: Europe, England
Medium/Technique
Gilding and translucent enamel on silver (tower, various pieces: 98.1-98.2% silver, 1.8-1.9% copper; statuette: 96.4% silver, 3.6% copper)
Dimensions
7.5 x 2.5 cm (2 15/16 x 1 in.) With base: 14 cm (5 1/2 in.) high
Credit Line
Harriet Otis Cruft Fund
Accession Number55.467
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsMetalwork
DescriptionHexagonal tower-shaped finial with three tiers of windows and a statuette of the Virgin and Child on the pinnacle. Individual pieces were either cast or cut out, chased minimally, soldered together (windows enameled), and gilded. The three stories are soldered together, each comprising a sheet of metal with windows cut out and bent into a hexagon. A pair of lancets with cusped arches surmounted by a quatrefoil window appears on each side of the first story; upper stories have a single lancet with cusped arch on each side. Behind the first story a sheet of silver with fine cross-hatching serves as backing for translucent enamel (alternating on the sides between green and blue) in the windows. Gables with tracery are soldered above the windows on the first two stories, and buttresses with crocketed pyramidal roof with a statuette on a molded hexagonal base soldered to the top. The standing crowned Virgin holds the Christ Child in her right arm and a flowering rod in her left hand. The Christ Child holds an apple. Later base is hexagonal molded with baluster knob, probably 16th century.
Provenance1955, sold by Kenneth John Hewett (dealer; b. 1919 - d. 1994), London, to the MFA for $336. (Accession Date: September 15, 1955)