This long hooked Crozier (staff) would have been used by an Italian bishop to signify his pastoral office. The Crozier is made of gilted and painted wood with areas where the surface has been built up with gesso or white lead to form low relief for decorations. The hook at the top forms an almost complete circle surrounding a four-sided, gold encircled star with a religious figure is the center, with a long beard and halo, wearing white with a blue cape. Other religious figures are painted in 6 sections on the sides of the hooked end of the staff and a gold sheep rests at the top of the hook. The vertical remainder of the staff is highly decorated with one section above and two below an elaborate mid-section consisting of pointed arches joined in a circle around the center shaft. Within these arches other various religious figures who stand against gold backgrounds, alternate with arches canopied over gold, urn-like decorations. The gold section above this center array of historical personage has gold low-relief columns separated by open slits. The first of the two sections below the center has a chevron against a gold square background surrounded by fleur di lis designs. The bottom-most and longest section of the staff has gold leaved vines against a black background. The crozier is mounted on a small black, wooden, two-stepped base.
Italian
Crozier,
15th century
Gilded and painted wood with pastiglia
,
103 x 56.5 x 27.5 cm (40 9/16 x 22 1/4 x 10 13/16 in.)
Object details
Accession number
S3s14
Primary Creator
Italian
Full title
Crozier
Creation Date
15th century
Provenance
Entered Isabella Stewart Gardner's collection at an unknown date.
Dimensions
103 x 56.5 x 27.5 cm (40 9/16 x 22 1/4 x 10 13/16 in.)
Display Media
Gilded and painted wood with pastiglia
Web Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.
Permanent Gallery Location
Blue Room
Bibliography
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 26. (as Dominican, possibly 15th century)
Rollin Hadley. “Notes, Records, Comments.” Gardner Museum Calendar of Events 8, no. 34 (25 Apr. 1965), p. 2. (as possibly 15th century)
Fausto Calderai and Alan Chong. Furnishing a Museum: Isabella Stewart Gardner’s Collection of Italian Furniture (Boston, 2011), p. 47.
Rights and reproductions
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Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.