Covered Chalice
The rare openwork cover on this Spanish chalice, with its elaborate ornament drawn from late Gothic architecture, nearly overwhelms the form of the vessel itself. The exterior of the bowl is engraved in Gothic letters with the Latin text of the Hail Mary— AVE MARIA GRACIA PLENA DOMINUS [TECUM]—the greeting of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary when he announced the forthcoming birth of Jesus. The six facets of the knop and the cover are embellished with pointed arches beneath which appear busts of Christ, the Virgin and Child, and saints. On the lobes of the foot are representations of the Crucifixion, the Instruments of the Passion, the Virgin and Child, and the Lamentation. Both the base and the cover bear the mark used by goldsmiths in Toledo during the fifteenth century.
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