2-721-326 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Reichenau Crozier, 1351, (1881). Etching of a copper gilt crozier made in the mid 14th century, probably at Konstanz in Germany. A crozier is a crook-shaped pastoral staff carried as a symbol of authority and pastoral care by a bishop or abbot. This example is partly encrusted with translucent enamel on silver and set with gems. It was owned by Eberhard of Brandis, abbot of the island monastery of Reichenau on Lake Constance (Germany), 1343-1379. The inscription suggests that the crozier, although made for Eberhard, (the figure shown praying to the Virgin and Child), was commissioned by the abbey's treasurer, Nicholas of Gutenberg, who may be the smaller figure praying beneath the angel. 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]