2-721-323 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Monstrance, c1450, (1881). Etching of a religious object, made in Italy in the mid 15th century. A monstrance or ostensorium is a liturgical vessel used in the Roman Catholic Church to display sacred items, namely the Eucharist (the consecrated bread or wafer), to the congregation. This example is copper-gilt and silver, of a hexagonal Gothic architectural form, the body pierced with tracery, surmounted by pinnacles and a cross. From "The South Kensington Museum", a book of engraved illustrations, with descriptions, of the works of art in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (formerly known as the South Kensington Museum). [Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, London, 1881]