Head of a Crozier

Description This rare and beautiful crozier represents the only known example made entirely of rock crystal, a hard stone that is very difficult to work. The skill of the carver can be seen in the smoothly arching leaves and the series of small hooks, called crockets, lining the outer edge. An abbess may have used a crystal crozier as a sign of her purity, a symbolic interpretation that dates back to the 9th century.

Exhibitions

• Treasures from Medieval France. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. 1966-1967.
• An Exhibition of the Treasures of The Walters Art Gallery. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton; Pace Wildenstein Gallery, New York. 1967.
• Vive la France! French Treasures from the Middle Ages to Monet. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1999-2000.

Provenance Dikran Kelekian, Paris and New York; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1913 (?) or 1923 (?), by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters