This chalice is an
extremely rare survival. It is similar to other pre-Reformation chalices including
one in Clonfert Cathedral, Galway, known as the ‘Matheus Macraith’ chalice
(P. Egan, ‘Clonfert Museum and its Collections’, Journal of the Galway Archaeological
and Historical Society, Volume 27, (1956/1957) pp.33-76, especially pp.37,
41-43). Other examples include two in the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin: the
‘De Burgo-O’Malley Chalice’ and the ‘Kirwan Chalice’ – the latter recently
purchased by the National Museum of Ireland, (bought prior to auction in 2019
with a pre-sale estimate €20,000- €30,000).
The chalice is a rare
survival from before the Protestant Reformation (1541-1598). That Henry VIII’s
religious reforms in Ireland in some cases did not go much further than The
Pale, the area immediately surrounding Dublin, may account for the survival of
much pre-Reformation plate.
Dr Edith Andrees of the
National Museum of Ireland, Dublin has suggested the chalice may been made in
or around Cork, noted that the circular spreading foot is unusual. The rivet
holes to the foot may indicate a lost mount of an image, inscription or corpus.
Wilson Rae-Scott was a
financier from Chiswick, London, and a collected silver and works of art in the
years before the Second World War.
We are grateful to
Philippa Glanville OBE, FSA, former Chief Curator of Metalwork, Silver and
Jewellery Department of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London and Dr Edith
Andrees of the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin for kindly assisting with the
cataloguing of this lot
