Communion chalice

Although the chalice from the church in Przelewice was made during the late Renaissance, when Pomerania had already been Protestant for two generations (the Reformation was introduced in the Duchy of Pomerania in 1534), its form is clearly reminiscent of works of medieval goldsmithing. The foot has a six-leaf shape typical of Gothic vessels, and on one of its fields there is an artistic Crucifixion Group, i.e. a representation of Christ on the cross assisted by Mary and St John the Evangelist. The spherical, slightly flattened nodus is decorated with diamond-shaped nodules bearing the monogram of Jesus and six-petalled flowers. The walls of the polygonal shaft are covered with a decoration with architectural motifs typical of late Gothic wares: a biforium, i.e. an arcaded opening divided by a column, and a circular opening above it called an oculus. The forms of Protestant Pomeranian art often referred to medieval art, a reference to the pre-Reformation tradition of the Lutheran communities.

The chalice on display was founded by the knightly von Schack family for the church in the village of Przelewice in the Pyrzyce district. The estate there belonged to the family from the late 15th century until 1799. The foot of the chalice shows engraved heraldic representations: in four fields the coats of arms of members of the family with a lily in the shield, and in the fifth field a double coat of arms belonging to Siegmund von Schack (c. 1549 – not before 1618) and his wife Margaretha von Strauss, with a lily on the left and three trumpets in a vertical arrangement on the right. The names of the patron saints of the church in Przelewice are additionally eternalised in the inscriptions on the foot edge.

Monika Frankowska-Makała