Have you, or any associate, a digital camera (or a scanner)? Then we could
see the bride and comment (perhaps).
a.c.
Ampleforth Abbey, York
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-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 11 November 1998 09:00
Subject: The Bride of Heaven
Esteemed List-members,
It struck me recently that some of you might enjoy a good mystery.
As a member of the Canadian Committee of the Corpus Vitrearum Medii
Aevi, I have been investigating a number of panels of medieval
stained glass in Canadian collections. Many of these came to Canada
through dealers, and we really have no idea of their provenance.
Generally, in these cases, style can be used as a general guide, and
generally, as well, the subject matter is pretty clear, but there is
one small panel that has so far eluded all our attempts at
identification of subject. From the style, it is clearly English,
and clearly 15th century (probably about mid-15th). But the subject
is a mystery. It is a round panel, showing a frontal, bust-length
female head, unnimbed, with long flowing hair and a circlet of
flowers around her head. The round frame is composed of a further
circlet of flowers (eleven), and on either side of her head, within
the border, is an inscription reading "by/the" (we initially thought
the first letter was "h", making "hy/the" but are reasonably
convinced now that it is a "b"). Below her head is a crowned
object with stem, flairing top and foot, either a chalice or the
letter I (name of Jesus?). We have thought, generally, that the
chaplets of flowers might have something to do with rosary devotion
(although the 11 flowers of the frame are a bit unusual), and the
inscription suggests, perhaps, an exerpt of a prayer. The only other
clue we have is the probably apocryphal title attached to the work:
the Bride of Heaven. If any of you medieval detectives have any
leads on this case, I would be very grateful.
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
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