Image: British Museum
Clavis number: ECMA 166
Other descriptors: Romanesque Baciles
Location: two bowls in the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum Museum, Jerusalem; one in the British Library (inventory number 1915,1208.179); one in the Louvre (inventory number OA 6061); and two in the Museo del Tesoro del Duomo di Vercelli (Inv. nos. 01/00171212 and 213).
Category: liturgical bowls
Related literature: Acts of Thomas, Miracles of Thomas, Passion of Thomas
Featured characters and locations: Abban, Andrapolis (Sandaruk), Caesarea, Gad (brother of king Gundaphorus), Gundaphorus, Misdaeus, Mygdonia, Siphor, Syntice, Tertia, Thomas (apostle).
1. DESCRIPTION
Material: copper; used to receive communion bread or other foods or, when they were in pairs, to wash hands (the water being poured from one to the other).
Date and Provenance: all six bowls perhaps produced in the eleventh or twelfth century in the region of the Lower Rhine and the Meuse (Dalton); the two Jerusalem bowls were found together during excavations of a monastery near the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem; the British Museum bowl was found in the Thames and was acquired from the collection of William Ranson in 1915; the Louvre bowl acquired from the Strogonoff collection in 1906; the pair of Vercelli bowls came have been traced to Canon William of Moncrivello (d. 1236). Another, single bowl with a combination of scenes was held at the Museo Municipal de Todi but is now missing (some information provided in Luca Castrichini, Todi. Museo-Pinacoteca Comunale. Pittura, scultura, oreficeria [Todi: Ediart, 2005], 154, 163).
2. IMAGES AND RELATIONSHIP TO APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE
Bowl type 1: British Library, Jerusalem, and Vercelli
Size: (British Library) 7.5 cm (h), 32.5 cm (d); (Jerusalem and Vercelli) 8 cm (h.), 34 cm (d.)
Images: British Library (pictured; drawing from Index of Medieval Art; for Jerusalem see Index of Medieval Art; for Vercelli see Museo del Tesoro del Duomo di Vercelli (and in Faccin, “Bacili romanici”).
Description: in the center: Thomas bound, led by attendant before Misdaeus, crowned, holding sword in lap, seated on bench; inscription P(ER) FIDVS INMODICA FERVENS MIGNONIVS IRA P(ER)CIPIT ABSCIDI THOMAS CAPVT ENSE MINACI (“The treacherous Migdonius [for Misdaeus], burning with unbridled rage, gave orders that Thomas’ head should be cut off with a fearful sword”) (cf. Pass. Thom. 60).
Band: 1) Thomas is sold by Jesus (holding staff) to Abban (holding sword); to the left is a set of buildings representing Caesarea (cf. Pass. Thom. 1–5).
2) Thomas at the wedding feast of the king of Andrapolis; bride and groom, both crowned, sit at banquet table; to the left the Hebrew girl plays a musical instrument and to the right a dog brings the hand of the cupbearer to Thomas (cf. Pass. Thom. 6–9).
3) Thomas, holding a book and standing at the door of a church, blesses the groom and bride (cf. Pass. Thom. 10–13).
4) Thomas (holding measure) receives money from Gundaphorus (crowned, seated on bench, under arch) to build a palace; Abban stands behind Thomas (cf. Pass. Thom. 16).
5) Thomas, standing before cross-surmounted church (perhaps the palace built for Gundaphorus), blessing the kneeling figures of Gundaphorus and his brother Gad (cf. Pass. Thom. 18–20).
6) Thomas baptizes three people in font; an attendant holds cloth (cf. Pass. Thom. 14).
Inscription under rim: [AD CONVERTE]NDOS THOMAS TRANSMITTITVR INDOS / CVIVS VIRTVTVS CVPIVNT SI SCIRE FIDELES / HAEC P(ER)SCRVTEN[TVR QV]AE CORAM SCVLPTA VDE[NTVR] (Thomas goes to convert the Indians. If the faithful wish to learn of his virtuous acts, let them study what is engraved here).
Bowl type 2: Louvre, Jerusalem, and Vercelli
Size: (Louvre) 8.5 cm (h.), 37.1 cm (d.); (Jerusalem and Vercelli) 8 cm (h.), 34 cm (d.)
Images: Louvre (pictured; drawing from Dalton p. 135); for Jerusalem see Enlart, atlas vol. 1, pl. 45; for Vercelli see Museo del Tesoro del Duomo di Vercelli (and in Faccin, “Bacili romanici”).
Description: 1) Mygdonia brings a leper to Thomas for healing (cf. Pass. Thom. 44–47); 2) Thomas is brought in chains to the king; an executioner stands with a sword (cf. Pass. Thom. 51).; 3) Thomas is beheaded (cf. Pass. Thom. 60); 4) Thomas blesses a woman (perhaps Mygdonia) (cf. Pass. Thom. 39 or 49); 5) Thomas baptizes four people in a font while an attendant holds a cloth (cf. Pass. Thom. 49). . Inscription under rim: FULGET APOSTOLICIS HEC PELVIS COMPTA TRIUMPHIS / ADTESTANS THOMAM FIDEI MERVISSE CORONAM / COLLUM PRO DOMINO FLECTENTEM SANGUINE FUSO (The basin shines adorned with the triumphs of the apostle, showing that Thomas deserved the crown by the blood shed in neck for the Lord). In the center, Thomas is buried by six of his disciples; an angel descends to anoint the body (cf. Pass. Thom. 61). Inscription: CUM FLETV PLEBIS DOCT[OREM] CARRERE DOLENTIS / CORPUS APOSTOLICUM DUCITUR AD TUMULUM (With the tears of the people who cry affectionately for the doctor, the body of the apostle is taken to the tomb).
Additional images of the Vercelli bowls courtesy of Sylvia Faccin (click to enlarge).
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bagatti, Bellarmino. Guida al Museo. Il museo della flagellazione in Gerusalemme. Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1939 (no. 60; pp. 51–53; fig. 23).
Boase, T. S. R. English Art 1100–1216. Oxford History of English Art 3. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953 (p. 195).
Brusa, Gionata, Silvia Faccin, and Sara Minelli. Testimoni capitolari. Manoscritti e documenti per la storia della Chiesa vercellese nel Medioevo. Vercelli: Fondazione Museo del Tesoro del Duomo e Archivio Capitolare, 2022 (p. 7).
Cartlidge, David R., and J. Keith Elliott. Art and the Christian Apocrypha. London and New York: Routledge, 2001 (pp. 220–21).
Castronovo, Simonetta. “Il tesoro di Guala Bicchieri cardinale di Vercelli.” Pages 224–32 in Gotico in Piemonte. Edited by Giovanni Romano. Torino: Cassa di Risparmio, 1992.
Dalton, Ormonde M. “On Two Medieval Bronze Bowls in the British Museum.” Archaeologia 72 (1922): 133–60 (pp. 133–40)
Enlart, Camille. Les monuments des croisés dans le royaume de Jérusalem, Architecture religieuse et civile. 4 vols. Paris: Guenther, 1925–1928 (text vol. 1, pp. 187–93; atlas vol. 1, pls. 45–46).
Faccin, Silvia. “Bacili romanici incisi nel Tesoro del Duomo di Vercelli: aggiornamenti e nuovi studi.” Bollettino Storico Vercellese 83 (2014): 5–31.
__________. “Engraving Examples for a Right Way of Life: The Romanesque Bronze Bowls in Vercelli/Trois bassins en bronze de style Roman à Vercelli: Différents exemples de gravures sur la vertu.” Études et Documents Archéologie 39 (2018): 327–33.
Hayward Gallery. English Romanesque Art 1066–1200. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1984 (pp. 253–54, with image).
Marucchi, Orazio. “Conferenze della Società di cultori della cristiana archeologia in Roma.” Bullettino di archeologia cristiana, ser. 4, 2 (1883): 85–114 (p. 106).
Piglione, Cinzia. “Le grandi oreficerie.” Pages 422–44 in Piemonte romanico. Edited by Giovanni Romano. Torino: Fondazione CRT/Banca CRT. Cassa di Risparmio, 1994 (p. 435).
Société Nationale des Antiquaires de France. Bulletin (1906): 394–400 (discussion of the Louvre bowl by M. J. Marquot de Vasselot).
Uggé, Sofia. “Materiali del Museo Del Tesoro del Duomo di Vercelli: un aggiornamento preliminare.” Pages 21–26 in vol. 1 of Atti del III Congresso Nazionale di Archeologia Medievale (Salerno, 2–5 ottobre 2003). Edited by Rosa Fiorillo and Paolo Peduto. Florence: All’Insegna del Gigilio, 2003.
Viale, Vittorio. “Catini figurati del Duomo di Vercelli.” Bollettino della Società Piemontese di Archeologia e Belle Arti, n.s. 2 (1948): 10–19.
Weitzmann-Fiedler, Josepha. Romanische gravierte Bronzeschalen. Berlin: Deutscher Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft, 1981 (pp. 39–41, 78–79, pls. 27–40b).
4. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Entry created by Tony Burke, York University, with assistance from Silvia Faccin, 19 May 2024.