Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 4 pages
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Source Description
The rosary, a string of beads used by Catholics as an aid in reciting specific prayers, was an important tool for practicing personal, private devotion. Many highly crafted rosaries featured an additional pendant, for which ivory and boxwood were popular materials because they could be so intricately carved. Here, the filigree resembles the tracery in late-Gothic church windows. This bead opens to reveal scenes of Christ Carrying the Cross and the Crucifixion.Even after the style was no longer in fashion and a rosary with this kind of pendant had been replaced as an aide to devotion by a more "up-to-date" rosary, these pendants continued to be valued for the virtuosity of the carving on such a tiny scale.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
25101
label
Rosary Bead with Scene of Christ Carrying the Cross
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
4
Source metadata
id
25101
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Rosary Bead with Scene of Christ Carrying the Cross
description
The rosary, a string of beads used by Catholics as an aid in reciting specific prayers, was an important tool for practicing personal, private devotion. Many highly crafted rosaries featured an additional pendant, for which ivory and boxwood were popular materials because they could be so intricately carved. Here, the filigree resembles the tracery in late-Gothic church windows. This bead opens to reveal scenes of Christ Carrying the Cross and the Crucifixion.Even after the style was no longer in fashion and a rosary with this kind of pendant had been replaced as an aide to devotion by a more "up-to-date" rosary, these pendants continued to be valued for the virtuosity of the carving on such a tiny scale.
provenance
Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
1500-1525 (Renaissance)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Wood
rosary beads, prayer nuts
imageCount
4
pageCount
4
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Diam: 1 15/16 in. (4.9 cm)
Source extras
med
boxwood, gold alloy
creator_ids
6505
collection_ids
REN
exhibition_ids
1994
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
b1098d50d44cfcb8
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
1cac3c28b889d59d
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
3
type
photo
mediaId
b9fddcc83534b304
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
4
type
photo
mediaId
7d4ace2228dedddd
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no