Ciborium Fragment

Description This fragment, along with Walters 27.563, was part of a ciborium, a free-standing stone canopy supported by columns and covering the altar or baptismal font of a church. It shows two birds eating a cluster of grapes on a vine. This motif is found frequently in Langobardic stonework in northern Italy. Relatively late in date, such architectural elements were carved after the Langobards had settled permanently in Italy.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
6/24/1971	Treatment	cleaned

Provenance Christine Alexander (Mrs. Breckenridge Long), Rome and Laurel, Maryland [date of acquisition unknown], by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1959, by bequest.

Credit Bequest of Mrs. Breckenridge Long, 1959