{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O94999"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O94999/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AA7679/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AA7679/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AA7679","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AA7678","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AD0805","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AD0810","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AD0795","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O94999/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O94999","accessionNumber":"M.28-1983","objectType":"Pyx and case","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"A pyx (from the Greek for ‘box’) was used in Roman Catholic worship to contain the Sacred Host, the consecrated bread or wafer used in the Mass, or to take it to the bedside of the sick. This example fits into a leather case so that it can be worn around the neck.\r\n\r\nThe firm of Poussielgue-Rusand began manufacturing church furnishings in various metals in the 1840s. It became one of the most illustrious in 19th-century France and supplied churches all over the country. Viollet-le-Duc, one of the leading authorities on Gothic building and design, was one of many architects associated with the firm.","physicalDescription":"The flat circular host container is on a baluster stem and flattened curve foot. A cross foot unfolds so that it can stand up, and the top half of the host container lifts off, so that the front can drop down, revealing the host within the gilded container. The exterior is decorated with champlevé opaque enamelling: royal blue, turquoise blue, brick red, emerald green, egg-yolk yellow, and white shading through to pale blue.\r\nThe decorative pattern on the host container is made up of a geometric pattern of four intersecting circles, a lozenge in the centre and four shield-shaped fields emerging from its sides. The cross finial is set with garnets and a turquoise in the middle. The top foot is enammeled with a green shield, the lower with IHS on a red shield. \r\nThe pyx fits into a leather case with rings at the edge so that it can be worn suspended around the neck. ","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Poussielgue-Rusand","id":"A11077"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silver","id":"AAT11029"},{"text":"turquoise","id":"AAT11164"},{"text":"garnet","id":"AAT11097"}],"techniques":[{"text":"gilding","id":"AAT53789"},{"text":"champleve","id":"AAT53777"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Silver gilt, enamelled and gem-set","categories":[{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2006AA7679","2006AA7678","2006AD0805","2006AD0810","2006AD0795"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"83","id":"THES49711"},"free":"","case":"CA4B","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"83","id":"THES49711"},"free":"","case":"CA4B","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"018","id":"THES407705"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Pyx","id":""}],[{"text":"Lid","id":""}],[{"text":"Case","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"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":"12.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Paris standard mark (950), in use from 1838 onwards. Maker's mark PRP and the cross, heart and anchor (Faith, Hope and Charity) for Poussielgue-Rusand, Paris.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":"A8728"},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"Acquisition RF: 83/542\nThis portable pyx fits into a leather case so that it can be worn around the neck. (Leather case now in SS, 10, 12)","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":"Pyx and case, silver, the interior gilt and decorated with enamel and set with cabochon turquoises and garnets, maker's mark PRP, France, ca. 1850","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Campbell, Marian. 'Imitation et création: la redécouverte de l'émail champlevé limousin au XIX<sup>e</sup> siècle', In: <u>Danielle Gaborit-Chopin and Élisabeth Taburet-Delahaye, eds. L'OEuvre de Limoges. Art et histoire au temps des Plantagenêts. Actes du colloque organisé au musée du Louvre par le Service culturel les 16 et 17 novembre 1995</u>. Paris: Musée du Louvre, 1998, pp. 49-81. ISBN 2110039744"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Portable Pyx with Case\r\n\r\nA pyx (from the Greek for 'box') was used in Roman Catholic worship to contain the Sacred Host, the consecrated bread or wafer used in the Mass, or to take it to the bedside of the sick. This example fits into a leather case so that it can be worn around the neck.\r\n\r\nThe firm of Poussielgue-Rusand began manufacturing church furnishings in various metals in the 1840s. It became one of the most illustrious in 19th-century France and supplied churches all over the country. Viollet-le-Duc, one of the leading authorities on Gothic building and design, was one of many architects associated with the firm.\r\n\r\nParis, France, about 1850; by Placide Poussielgue-\r\nRusand (1824-89). Silver gilt, with enamel and\r\nsemi-precious stones\r\nMuseum no. M.28:1-1983","date":{"text":"22/11/2003","earliest":"2003-11-22","latest":"2003-11-22"}}],"partNumbers":["M.28:1-1983","M.28:2-1983","M.28:3-1983"],"accessionNumberNum":"28","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":1983,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Pyx","Lid","Case"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-14","recordCreationDate":"2004-03-03","availableToBook":false}}