Cleveland Museum of Art

Pyx

Date

c.1300

Medium

silver and gilt silver

Culture

Austria, probably Salzburg, 14th century

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

A pyx is a container designed to hold the consecrated Eucharist wafers between masses. It was probably used by the clergy to administer communion to the sick and dying; its small size made it easily portable. The decoration relates to similar liturgical objects made in the ecclesiastical and artistic center of Salzburg for the cathedral treasury of that city.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.