The Burlington magazine

by Unknown

NOTES ON VARIOUS WORKS OF ART

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.

THE OAKEN CHEST OF YPRES

This chest of massive oak belongs to the office of archives at Ypres. It is perhaps the most curious and characteristic example of a kind familiar to antiquaries. In the middle panel, cut deep into the oak, St. George charges stoutly at the dragon, whose throat is stricken through with the lance. St. George’s head has a basnet, whose point ends in a socket with a feather stuck in it. This basnet has the camail and roundels over the ears. Over his hawberk the saint wears a short coat with long sleeves, wide and slittered at the edges. The saddle, with its great rolled guards for the legs, is noteworthy. The dragon is no writhing worm under the horse-hoofs, but a fearsome thing like to a mad bull-calf, a thing begotten of bull and serpent. Behind the monster stands Dame Cleodolinde, daintily lifting her skirt and no whit uneasy for the hurtling of horse and dragon. Behind her are the town walls, with towers and halls above them. Out of frilled clouds over St. George’s head a divine arm is thrust, in a loose sleeve, with two fingers blessing the lance-thrust. In the broad uprights at the chest-end a gentleman and a lady in full round sleeves stand between pillars. Above them are battlements, and above the battlements mullioned windows. ¶ The broad lock of this chest remains, a lock of most interesting form. The whole chest was once painted in colours, traces of which remain here and there. When the fashion of the dresses and arms have been reckoned over, and something allowed for craft tradition, the chest would seem to be of the early years of the fifteenth century, although it came to the famous exhibition of 1902 at Bruges most absurdly labelled and catalogued as of the thirteenth.

A BURGUNDIAN CHEST

This great chest, which was shown at Bruges in 1902, is a noble example of the Burgundian school of wood-carving, its ornament offering sharp contrast with the English manner. ¶ The four panels of the front and three of the uprights are filled with rich carving of traceries and arabesques, but the chisel has stayed at the framework, and the chest, for all the richness of its ornament, loses nothing of its massive and sturdy appearance. The end panels are plain, and the plain cover is slightly arched in remembrance of the waggon tops of the earlier coffers. The first panel has a little shield of St. Peter’s keys, with the pope’s triple crown very large above it. The second has the emperor’s shield of the eagle with two necks surmounted by an open crown. Another crowned shield bears the famous badge of Burgundy, the steel, or strike-a-light, with its flint and sparks. The fourth panel has neither crown nor shield, but the tracery shapes itself into three fleurs-de-lys, which, although they be not upon a shield, may stand for the king of France. Thus the four panels show pope, emperor, duke and king. On the broad upright in the middle is a crown above a tiny shield charged with a single fleur-de-lys. It will be seen that the armorial decoration is poorly-conceived stuff to be set upon these rich panels. Especially is this feebleness manifest in the starveling fowl of the emperor’s shield. ¶ The chest is of the latter half of the fifteenth century. It is the property of the ‘hospices civils’ of Aalst.

O. B.