Medieval Pewter Cross Pilgrim's Pendant

Gently tapering hoop and a discoid bezel with a six-petalled flower on a nielloed background. 4.03 grams, 21.64 mm overall, 19.46 x 18.87 mm internal diameter (approximate size British R 1/2, USA 8 3/4, Europe 19.38, Japan 18)



Ex German art market, 2000s. Acquired from an EU collector living in London. From the collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman.

Discoid in plan with raised rim and inner ring with spokes, central boss and radiating arms and interstitial pellets. 12.42 grams, 32 mm



From a retired Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman's collection, a long time member of the Pewter Society.

Carved in the half-round frieze fragment or devotional sculpture of the Madonna del Fuoco, facing female in wimple and long robe with her right arm bent forward, left arm extended above a child gripping the folds of her robe; billowing flames surrounding the pair; mounted on a custom-made stand. 10.55 kg total, 37.7 cm including stand



Acquired Lukas Pearsie, Suffolk, 2012. Property of a Kent collector. From the N.J. collection, Leicester, UK.

One version of the legend of 'Our Lady of the Flames' concerns an image of Mary and the Infant Jesus which was saved from a house-fire at Forli, near Ravenna, Italy by a miraculous intervention. The icon burst out of the wall of the blazing house to the astonishment of the locals, who reported it to the church authorities and it was subsequently accepted by a papal legate as a miracle. The legend was propagated in an early Italian printed book by Giuliano Bezzi called "Il Fuoco Trionfante" (The Triumphant Fire) printed in 1637. The events are said to have taken place around 1420 A.D.