Antique Chapel Cross, France Circa 1890, Gilded Spelter Corpus Christi, Straight Grained Ebony, 25 x 13 centimetres, Our Lady of Lourdes

Antique Chapel Cross, France Circa 1890, Gilded Spelter Corpus Christi, Straight Grained Ebony, 25 x 13 centimetres, Our Lady of Lourdes

The cross of this beautiful crucifix is made from perfectly matched straight grained ebony. Mounted on the cross is the Corpus Christi that is made from cast bronze which has been gilded.

Inlaid into the ebony are strips of bronze, excellent work.

At the foot of this beautiful chapel cross is the insignia for the cathedral Notre Dames de Lourdes and so this was made as a 'Souvenir of Lourdes'.

In our modern world we tend to think of 'souvenirs' as tacky trinkets from beach holidays but 'souvenir' in French means 'to remember'.

Since 1858 millions of pilgrims have visited Lourdes and so a large number of brilliant artisans congregated in the ateliers around Lourdes to produce stunning works of art that pilgrims could buy to 'remember' their pilgrimage to Lourdes. This beautiful chapel cross was made in one of those workshops.

The grain of the ebony is perfect and its deep dark colour highlights the gilded Corpus Christi and the bronze inlays.

It measures 25 x 13 centimetres in total and has an inset ring in the back for wall mounting.