Monstrance

A monstrance is used in Christian worship to display (from the Latin word monstrare - to show) a relic or - more often - the consecrated host for veneration. In the mediaeval period monstrances took a variety of forms but the preferred form became the radiating sunburst, as with the present lot, during the period when missionaries in Latin America were attempting to Christianise the native peoples by appropriating the image of the sun which many of them worshipped previously. This example, made of the costly materials of silver-gilt and rock crystal, is also notable for retaining what appears to be its original embossed leather case. These were typically made to protect fragile objects in hardstone when they were not in use. A number of these cases still exist from the collection of hardstone objects originally belonging to the French Dauphin but now in the Prado (see the catalogue, D. Angulo Iniguez, Catalogo de las Alhajas del Delfin, Madrid, 1989, pp. 15-18).

Sir William Stirling-Maxwell (1818-1878) was a writer, art historian and politician. Born into a Scottish aristocratic family, he was also a noted art collector. He travelled extensively and it is likely that on one of his trips to Italy he acquired the present object.