Silverware
The hospital of Lessines has one of the largest public collections of silverware, both civil and religious: nearly 140 pieces in Gothic, Renaissance, Louis XIV, Louis XV, Louis XVI, and neo-Gothic style.
Chalice
Gilded silver, 1632, h: 29,5 cm
This magnificent silver gilt chalice is decorated with Renaissance patterns.
It’s round foot which has an openwork design of cherubs, is surmounted by a setting with clusters of fruit and putti. The upper part of the chalice is also embossed with the same patterns. The chalice is signed by the goldsmiths Lefèvre of Tournai and was donated by prioress Jeanne Duquesne in 1632.
Reliquary arm of Saint Marguerite
Silver and gilded silver, XVIIe century.
This reliquary shaped as a forearm is a pair with that of Saint Elizabeth (more richly decorated, stolen in 1980). The silver was made to look like tissue while the base of the wrist and arm are decorated with a frieze of golden ovum. The same pattern is repeated around the window of the relic. The object has been offered by the Lady Prioress Jeanne DUQUESNE.
Ciborium
Silver and gilded silver
This beautiful piece has all the features of the Renaissance style applied to religious silverware: foliage, putti, flowers, fruit, flowers …
The lid is finished with a pear-shaped urn with two handles and surmounted by a large cross. This ciborium has kept intact its four marks: the T of the city of Tournai, the tower resting on a crescent surmounted by a lily of Tournai, the heart with a crown dominated by a cross, all within a crown of the goldsmith SURMONT, dean of the guild of silversmiths in the early seventeenth century Tournai, and finally, the letter C.
Monstrance
Gilded silver, 1557
This magnificent piece still has a decidedly “flamboyant” gothic look while having already typically Renaissance details.
The foot shaped in a polygone is adorned with the heads of cherubs. The cylinder contained in a double ring of florets is surrounded by buttresses decorated with columns, canopies, statues and pinnacles. They support a dome surmounted by a carved canopy sheltering a statue of the Virgin and The Child and completed by the cross.
A portrait of the Prioress of Amandine RUEST and the inscription “LADY MANDYNE RUEST OF THE YEAR 1557 – GILDED YEAR 1574 – RESTORED IN 1869″ are engraved on the foot.
Shrines of Saint Ursula and Saint Eloi
Silver, copper, gold and ebony, 1658-1660.
The church of the hospital is dedicated to Saint Eloi and Saint Ursula, therefore it has two shrines for housing the relics of both saints. Exposed for veneration at the major feasts, these works were commissioned to the silversmith Philippe LENOIR of Ath between 1658 and 1660.
They both exhibit the same baroque setting, despite some specific attributes and the plates at the feet of the shrines. The shrine stands on a pedestal veneered with ebony, with two niches adorned with cherubs bearing attributes of the saint, the face of the pedestal is decorated with a large silver plate with cherubs heads and foliage. The plaques represent a milestone in the life of the saint: Saint Eloi curing the plague and the martyrdom of Saint Ursula.
The shrine itself is shaped as a box set on two feet decorated with beads, grenades and foliage. The body of the box is opened by a glass plate surrounded by an opulent decor of flowers, fruits, angels and wings of bats. The corners of the cabinet are clad with angels-caryatids in the round, holding cords. A bottleneck is decorated with foliage, fruit and arms of donors. Finally, the upper part is decorated with pomegranates, laurel and flowers, all topped by two cherubs supporting a crown of mistletoe.
Both shrines inspired in the eighteenth century, an important composition of the high altar, consisting of a cross, a panel, four vases, a chime of two reliquaries.
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