{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O105617"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O105617/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PC2518/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PC2518/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PC2518","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AN3858","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PC2521","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PC2520","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PC2519","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AN3859","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O105617/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O105617","accessionNumber":"M.107:1 to 3-1978","objectType":"Processional cross","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This cross incorporates relics set under glass. It was supplied to Princethorpe Priory, Leicestershire, at a cost of £50, and also has an ebony shaft so it can be carried in processions. The designer was A.W.N. Pugin, an influential architect who promoted the Gothic as the true Christian style. He based the cross on medieval Spanish or Italian models and made the Gothic quatrefoil an important feature of the design.","physicalDescription":"Mahogany frame, silver and glass containing relics","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"A.W. Pugin","id":"A8761"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"AAT25190"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"John Hardman & Co.","id":"A9144"},"association":{"text":"makers","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"mahogany","id":"AAT12221"},{"text":"silver","id":"AAT11029"},{"text":"glass","id":"AAT10797"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Mahogany frame, beaten silver plates and glass containing relics","categories":[{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2025PC2518","2006AN3858","2025PC2521","2025PC2520","2025PC2519","2006AN3859"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"83","id":"THES49711"},"free":"","case":"CA4B","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES404522"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES404387"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"83","id":"THES49711"},"free":"","case":"CA4B","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"cross","id":"x37354"}],[{"text":"base","id":"AAT1656"}],[{"text":"staff","id":"x43994"}],[{"text":"finial","id":"AAT2280"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Birmingham","id":"x28748"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1850","earliest":"1845-01-01","latest":"1854-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"84","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"without wooden end","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"56.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"without base/mount","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"depth of mount","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"100","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"with mount","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"No marks","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"This cross was designed by the architect A.W. N. Pugin after Medieval Spanish and Italian models for Princethorpe Priory, Leicestershire. According to the records of  John Hardman and Company it cost £50. It was supplied with an ebony staff so that it could be carried in processions. The Gothic quatrefoil forms an important ornamental device.","historicalContext":"The Gothic Revival\r\nIn the Victorian period a dramatic and profound change took place in religious life. Centred on a renewed interest in the Middle Ages, it affected the appearance of churches and how services were conducted. The influential architect A.W.N. Pugin promoted the Gothic as the true Christian style. Although Pugin was Catholic, his theory appealed to Anglicans of the Oxford Movement - radicals who hoped to restore pre-Reformation services to the Church of England.\r\n\r\nThe Cambridge Camden Society, founded in 1839, studied the past to identify the medieval architecture and furnishings that would be appropriate for the revived services. The society became an arbiter of style, offering an Anglicised version of the Gothic. By the 1870s some of the equipment normally found in Catholic worship, such as the ciborium, was appearing in Anglican churches.\r\n\r\nIt was not universally welcomed. Some observers found the incense, the altar cross and the emphasis on ritual scandalously 'Popish' or 'high church'.\r\n\r\nThe Gothic Revival in Europe\r\nThe Gothic revival in Europe owed more to nationalism than religious zeal. The completion of Cologne's medieval cathedral was an affirmation of German culture. In the Habsburg empire, Czechs and Hungarians similarly expressed national pride through Gothic architecture.\r\n\r\nChampions of the Gothic claimed by the 1850s that the style was triumphant in Europe. But classical architecture remained a serious rival, even in church building. Much of the most important Gothic work was in church restoration. In Germany and France, goldsmiths like Franz Xaver Hellner supplied Gothic church furnishings.","briefDescription":"Processional cross with base, silver and mahogany, with ebony and silver staff, Birmingham, made by John Hardman, designed by A.W.N. Pugin","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Exhibition: 'Makers of Modern Gothic: A.W.N. Pugin and John Hardman Jr', Julie and Robert Breckman Galleries, V&A, 3rd February - 26th October 2025"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Exhibition: 'Makers of Modern Gothic: A.W.N. Pugin and John Hardman Jr', Julie and Robert Breckman Galleries, V&A, 3rd February - 26th October 2025\n\nCross for St Mary's Priory, Princethorpe\n1850\r\n\nThis altar cross contains holy relics and can be carried in procession on an ebony shaft. St Mary's was established by English Benedictine nuns in 1832. Pugin initially dismissed its furnishings as 'miserable specimens of the tawdry trashy taste of the Modern religious. It is not even a ghost of an ancient nunnery.' He later exerted his influence by designing this cross for the chapel.\n\nSilver, ebony, glass, relics\r\nDesigned by A.W.N. Pugin, made by John Hardman & Co., Birmingham\r\nMuseum no. M.107:1 to 3-1978","date":{"text":"03/02/2025","earliest":"2025-02-03","latest":"2025-02-03"}},{"text":"Processional Cross\r\n \r\nThis cross incorporates relics set under glass. It was supplied to Princethorpe Priory,\r\nLeicestershire, at a cost of £50, and originally had an ebony shaft so it could be carried in processions. The designer was A.W.N. Pugin, an influential architect who promoted the Gothic as the true Christian style. He based the cross on medieval Spanish or Italian models and made the Gothic quatrefoil an important feature of the design.\r\n\r\nBirmingham, England, 1850-1; designed by A.W.N.\r\nPugin (1812-52), made by John Hardman & Co.\r\nMahogany, silver and glass\r\nMuseum no.M.107-1978","date":{"text":"22/11/2005","earliest":"2005-11-22","latest":"2005-11-22"}}],"partNumbers":["M.107:1-1978","M.107:2-1978","M.107:3-1978","M.107:4-1978"],"accessionNumberNum":"107","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":1978,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","processional cross","base","staff"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-02-04","recordCreationDate":"2004-09-22","availableToBook":false}}