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Incense Boat

French (Artist)

mid 13th century (Medieval)

champlevé enamel on gilded copper
(Medieval Europe )

This incense boat, called a navicula (Latin for "little boat"), was used to store the incense that was burned as part of many church rituals, including the Mass. The boat has curved dragon-headed handles on the lid for the symbolic protection of the incense, a combination of frankincense and myrrh. The burning of incense was considered both an offering to God and an act of purification.

Provenance

**Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.**

Dimitri Schevitch, Paris, before 1906; Sale, Georges Petit, Paris, April 4-7, 1906, no. 205; Octave Pincot, Paris, 1906, by purchase; Ernst and Martha Kofler-Truniger, Lucerne, 1964, by purchase; Keir Collection (Edmund de Unger), London, 1971, by purchase; Keir Collection Sale, Sotheby's, New York, November 20, 1997, no. 87; Walters Art Museum, 1997, by purchase.

Exhibitions

1998-2001	Highlights from the Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.
1999-2000	Vive la France! French Treasures from the Middle Ages to Monet. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.
1965	Mittelalterliche Kunst der Sammlung Kofler-Truniger. Suermondt Museum, Aachen.
1964	Sammlung E. und M. Kofler-Truniger, Luzern. Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich.
1981-1982	Medieval Enamels: Masterpieces from the Keir Collection. The British Museum, London.

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Geographies

France, Limoges (Place of Origin)

Measurements

H: 2 5/16 x W: 3 3/8 x L: 7 3/16 in. (5.9 x 8.6 x 18.2 cm)

Credit Line

Museum purchase with funds provided by the Richard H. Randall, Jr., Memorial Fund and the W. Alton Jones Foundation Acquisition Fund, 1997

Location in Museum

Centre Street: Third Floor: Romanesque and Gothic Art

Accession Number

In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.

44.701

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