Chalice
Author: Unknown
Date: 17th century, final quarter
Material: Gilt silver
Dimensions (cm): H 25 x D 13,9
Provenance: Guimarães, Colegiada de Nossa Senhora da Oliveira
Inventory No.: MAS O 27
This chalice, with a circular base, has a stem in baluster shape and a tulip-shaped cup. It bears as only decoration: the heraldic device of Dom Luís de Sousa – the coat of arms of the Sousas, of the said branch of Arronches, with an ecclesiastical hat with cords of six tassels hanging on either side. On the death of this archbishop of Braga, in 1690, this piece and a pyx went to his nephew, Dom João de Sousa, who was prior of the Colegiada de Nossa Senhora da Oliveira, to which he, in turn, bequeathed them.
The outline of the shapes of this chalice is quite clear, the volumes are very simple and the surfaces don’t have any decoration, placing them in what we could call chã silverware. The precepts disseminated by the Council of Trent (1545 – 1563) were, at times, interpreted in the sense of formal and ornamental austerity, which led the craftsmen to take full advantage of the flat metallic surfaces worked on the lathe, polished and shiny.