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three old tools are sitting on a white surface with a white backgroundthree different types of tools are displayed on a white surfacean image of a pair of metal tools sitting on top of a white surfacea close up of a metal hammer with a design on ita close up of a metal object on a white surfacean image of a stone plaque with two faces on ita metal object with a wooden handle on a white surfacea hammer that has two crosses on it
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46 - Set of three liturgical wrought-iron Wafer Irons (Host Mould…

Estimate €600 - €1,000
Sale commission
Description
Set of three liturgical wrought-iron Wafer Irons (Host Moulds), engraved and chiseled. Western Europe. 16th–17th centuries. Length: 80 cm, 72 cm, and 88 cm. Exceptional set of liturgical wafer irons intended for the production of Eucharistic hosts used in the celebration of the Mass. Entirely forged in iron, the implements retain their articulated structure with central hinge and long handles, allowing the simultaneous baking and impressing of the sacramental wafers. The interior plates are finely engraved with a rich repertoire of Christological and Eucharistic imagery. Among the motifs represented are various crucifixes, IHS monograms, crosses of different forms, symbolic stars, and the figure of the Agnus Dei (Mystical Lamb), together with other devotional images associated with the Catholic tradition. These designs were intended to be transferred in relief onto the hosts during the baking process. Beyond their practical function, these objects constitute remarkable testimonies to the religious life of Early Modern Europe. Through them was produced one of the central elements of Christian worship: the Eucharistic bread destined for the sacrifice of the Mass. Every host made with these irons was consumed during the liturgy itself, making the moulds among the very few surviving material witnesses to a devotional practice repeated countless times over the centuries. The quality of execution is particularly noteworthy. The engraved decoration was cut directly into the iron plates using burins and chisels, revealing the work of highly skilled craftsmen familiar with the techniques of artistic ironworking and locksmithing. The remarkable clarity with which many of the motifs remain visible today testifies both to the quality of their manufacture and to their exceptional state of preservation. Wafer irons dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are today comparatively scarce, especially when preserving their original hinges, mechanisms and engraved surfaces. Most surviving examples originate from former churches, monasteries and religious communities in France, Germany, the Low Countries and Central Europe. As a comparative example, one may cite the important Communion Wafer Iron preserved in the collection of The Historic New Orleans Collection, formerly used by the Ursuline community of New Orleans and likewise decorated with crucifixes, crosses and Christological monograms, reflecting a technical and iconographic tradition widely disseminated throughout the Catholic world. The extraordinary preservation of the present set allows it to be appreciated not only as a functional implement but also as an object of considerable historical, symbolic and anthropological significance. Created to produce an element destined to disappear in the very act of communion, these irons have survived for centuries, becoming silent witnesses to the daily spirituality and liturgical practices of Early Modern Europe.
About the sale Dialogues with the Past: Vestigia
Auction location
Auction time 07/02/2026 at 7:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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