Accession number
MS M.1221.1-3
Object title
Medieval pilgrimage token.
Created
France or Belgium, early 15th century
Credit line
Gift of William M. Voelkle in honor of James H. Marrow, 2021.
Description
1 token (1 miniature) : leather, matted ; 93 x 36 mm (3 3/4 x 1 1/2 inches)
Provenance
Theodor Oswald Weigel (1812-1881); unrealized sale, Leipzig, 12 July 1898, lot 84 (comprising four heads of Christ: no. 1: MS M.1221.2; no. 2: MS M.1221.1; no. 4 MS M.1221.3; no. 3 is not accounted for); purchased by Karl W. Hiersemann; his catalogue, 1905; Cornelius J. Hauck (1893-1967); gifted, with his collection, to the Cincinnati Historical Society Library; merged with the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, 1995; Hauck sale, New York, Christie's, 27-28 June, 2006, lot 100; purchased by William M. Voelkle, 2006; gifted to the Morgan Library & Museum, 2021.
Notes
Pilgrimage token with the face of Christ.
Illustration: Vernicle; against red background, Veronica holding cloth with the Holy Face (as a dark face).
This token has been part of the same collection as MS M.1221.2 and MS M.1221.3 since at least the end of the nineteenth century (see Provenance below).
Iconographically, the token is also related to MS M.1222.1 and MS M.1020, fol. 32r, both of which depict Veronica holding a white cloth (the sudarium) with an oversized dark face of Christ.
The Morgan badges are not dissimilar from some used for (late) fifteenth-century manuscript borders, such as the ones found in Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, MS 78 B 14, fol. 19r; Cleveland, CMA, 1963.256, fol. 184r; Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Douce 219, fol. 16v, and MS Douce 311, fol. 21v; Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale, MS I.B.51, fol. 38r, among others.
M.1221.1 bears similarities (in forms and colors) to a vernicle (or Veronica badge) sewn to Brussels, KBR, MS 11035-11037, fol. 96r (Prayer Book of Duke Philip the Bold of Burgundy).
Illustration: Vernicle; against red background, Veronica holding cloth with the Holy Face (as a dark face).
This token has been part of the same collection as MS M.1221.2 and MS M.1221.3 since at least the end of the nineteenth century (see Provenance below).
Iconographically, the token is also related to MS M.1222.1 and MS M.1020, fol. 32r, both of which depict Veronica holding a white cloth (the sudarium) with an oversized dark face of Christ.
The Morgan badges are not dissimilar from some used for (late) fifteenth-century manuscript borders, such as the ones found in Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, MS 78 B 14, fol. 19r; Cleveland, CMA, 1963.256, fol. 184r; Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Douce 219, fol. 16v, and MS Douce 311, fol. 21v; Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale, MS I.B.51, fol. 38r, among others.
M.1221.1 bears similarities (in forms and colors) to a vernicle (or Veronica badge) sewn to Brussels, KBR, MS 11035-11037, fol. 96r (Prayer Book of Duke Philip the Bold of Burgundy).
Century
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Classification
Department