Object type
chalice
Culture/period
Medieval
Materials
pewter
Technique
moulding?
Mint
Production date
975 / 1025
Seu
Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Olèrdola
Current location
Centre Interpretació
Archaeological site
Olèrdola. Església de Sant Miquel (sector 06)
Township
Olèrdola (Alt Penedès)
Dimensions
63 x 55 x 55 mm
Description
Read more
Chalice or Eucharistic cup made up of three parts: a small circular base, the trunk with a slight inflection in the central part and the upper part, hemispherical, with two edges on the external face.
This cup together with a paten come from grave number 30 in the necropolis located around the church of Sant Miquel d'Olèrdola, an excavation carried out within the framework of the restoration project of the pre-Romanesque and Romanesque building (2005-2008). The burial was of the anthropomorphic type, carved in the calcareous rock, and located behind the north apse of the pre-Romanesque building. Both pieces were deposited next to the skull of an adult male. The name of the buried cleric and the rank are unknown, but it is known that he died between the years 980 and 1021, according to data provided by radiocarbon analyses.
The pieces show conservation defects due to contact with the rainwater that temporarily infiltrated into the tomb, despite being sealed with a layer of mortar and limestone slabs. They have been restored by the restoration laboratory in the Museum of Archeology of Catalonia-Barcelona.
These are pieces of a liturgical nature. The find is exceptional given its chronology and its symbolic value. In Catalonia there are very few specimens located in graves. In general they are associated with ecclesiastical figures such as bishops and abbots. Most are dated from the 12th century.
While the liturgical objects used during the celebration of the Eucharist had to be made with noble materials, some of the pieces associated with burials were made of pewter, an alloy of zinc, copper and tin, like those of Olèrdola, and used to be in graves.
GISBERT, M.; MOLIST, N. 2012, Catàleg, in N. Molist (coord.), De Sanctus Michaelis a Sant Miquel. L'església de Sant Miquel d'Olèrdola entre el segle X i el segle XXI, Catàleg de l'exposició. Ajuntament d'Olèrdola i Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya, 85-98 (peça núm. 1).
MOLIST, N.; BOSCH, J.M. 2012, El cementiri altmedieval de Sant Miquel d'Olèrdola, in N. Molist i G. Ripoll (eds.), Arqueologia Funerària del nord-est peninsular (segles VI-XII), Monografies d'Olèrdola 3.2, Barcelona, 469-494. Pàgs. 479 i 483. Figs. 9 i 14.
RIPOLL, G.; MOLIST, N. 2014, Cura Mortorum en el Nordeste de la PenínsulaIbérica, siglos IV al XII d.C., Territorio, Sociedad y Poder 9, 5-66. Pàg. 75, Fig. 3.
SALRACH I MARÈS, J.M. (dir) 2017, El naixement de la nació catalana. Orígens i expansió, Enciclopèdia Catalana, Barcelona.Fig. pàg. 83.
SANJOSÉ I LLONGUERAS, Lourdes de (2018), Al servei de l'altar. Tresors d'orfebreria de les esglésies catalanes. Segles IX-XIII, Arxiu biblioteca episcopal de Vic, Patronat d'Estudis Osonencs. Làm. 1, CC1.
Image
3D Model
© Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Olèrdola
Omeka ID
2283