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Box

mid-14th century
Object PlaceNorthern Europe
Medium/TechniqueSilver (various pieces: 92.8-93.6% silver, 4.4-5.3% copper, 1.3-1.5% gold, .4-.8% lead)
Dimensions4.8 x 4.4 x 1.9 cm (1 7/8 x 1 3/4 x 3/4 in.)
Credit LineArthur Mason Knapp Fund
Accession number46.1249
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsMetalwork
Collections
ProvenanceUntil about 1790, Church of Saint Martin, Angers, France; after about 1790, sold by René-Claude Chaloigne, priest at Saint Martin, to Toussaint Grille (b. 1766 - d. 1850), Angers [see note 1]; April 28, 1851, posthumous Grille sale, Palais de Marchands, Angers, lot 377, sold to M. de Saint-Maurice [see note 2]. Victoria, Queen of Prussia and Empress of Germany (b. 1840 - d. 1901), Friedrichshof, Kronberg, Germany [see note 3]. 1946, Blumka Gallery, New York; 1946, sold by Blumka to the MFA for $1000. (Accession Date: December 12, 1946)

Notes:
[1] According to Lola Fondbertasse, "Toussaint Grille (1766 - 1850), antiquiaire angevin et sa collection d'objets d'art du Moyen Age," Mémoire de recherche, École du Louvre (September 2016), p. 76, Grille acquired this from Chaloigne, the last titular priest of the church. He took up the position in 1788 and the church was dissolved in 1790.

[2] Fondbertasse 2016 (as above, note 1), p. 90.

[3] According to typed notes in the MFA curatorial file (source unknown; possibly transcribed from a German language sale or exhibition catalogue). There are also notes suggesting dealer Joseph Brummer handled it before Blumka, but this has not been verified.
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