The Holy Land Ampulla of Sant Pere de Casserres - a Liturgical and Art-Historical interpretation

Abstract

The ampulla found in the main altar of the monastery church of Sant Pere of Casserres, now part of a private collection, is a small metal flask typical of the Holy Land in its form, measures, material and decoration. Its concise decoration is a clear reference to a locus sanctus. On its obverse it presents the crucified Christ clad in a perizonium, with Greek inscriptions in the spaces above and below the arms of the Cross, and on its reverse it shows a Greek cross with flared arms. The style and workmanship are rather rough, as in many metal and clay eulogiae produced in Jerusalem and other centers of pilgrimage, both because of the plebeian medium and material, the mass production and distribution, and because these devotional objects mainly addressed the wish of pilgrims to encapsulate the holiness of the place and their prayers there, whereas aesthetical aspects were not important. The ampulla of Sant Pere de Casserres has been dated to the sixth or early seventh century like the well known Holy Land ampullae at Monza and Bobbio, and to the early eighth century, in both cases with no argumentation. This paper offers a re-evaluation of the dating of the ampulla, on the basis of iconographic and stylistic parallels of the figurative motifs, and on a new reading of the inscriptions.