THE SORÖ CHALICE
IN the notice of a mediaeval chalice from Iceland in the June number of this Magazine (p. 70), mention was made, by way of comparison, of the silver chalice found in 1827 at Sorö, Denmark, in the grave of Absalon, bishop of Lund, who died in the year 1201. A view of this exceptionally interesting specimen of early Scandinavian work, still preserved in the church of Sorö, is shown in the accompanying illustration.[116] The character of the chalice, as revealed by the photograph, confirms the close relationship existing between it and the example which was the subject of the notice alluded to. The bowl nearly hemispherical in shape, the flattened globular knop, and the trumpet-shaped foot with bevelled margin finishing in a narrow turned-out edge, are the salient features of each alike. A point of distinction not quite so apparent in the engraving which was referred to[117] is the somewhat greater width in proportion to height of the Sorö chalice, giving a rather more spreading shape of bowl and foot. The bowl, too, is seen to have less of the tendency towards a straightening of the contour at its upper part, which, in the example from Iceland, seems to give a hint of the coming change of shape, an indication which suggests the lapse of a certain interval between their dates. The necking between the knop and bowl, on the other hand, is now shown to be of very similar proportions in both. This necking (called by Theophilus the ‘ring’) and the band below the knop are enriched with shallow fluting, somewhat hidden by the shadow in the photograph; the foot appears to have suffered injury from crushing. ¶ Certain features, such as the fully-expanded knop with enrichment above and below, and the fairly substantial character of the work apparent in the thickness at the edge of the foot, support the belief that the subject of the present illustration is an actual mass-chalice.[118] Whether made for service at the altar or merely for mortuary use the chalice is equally valuable as an example of the shape arrived at in Scandinavia in or before the year 1201.
H. P. MITCHELL.