The Museum of the Ways of Gaudí Palace presents a chalice from San Justo de la Vega as the ‘Piece of the Month’ for January 2024. The works, which for various reasons are not part of the museum’s permanent exhibition, will be displayed in a prominent place on the second floor of the Palace. The work chosen for the month of January will share space with the piece of the Month of December, “Adoration of the Shepherds”.
The chalice of San Justo de la Vega (León) is a notable example of Eucharistic goldsmithing in which, despite being made in the middle of the 16th century, formal and ornamental Gothic repertoires still survive in it, which in our diocesan context remained in force throughout the first half of that century, coexisting with a still timid Renaissance.
It has a lobed foot, with a smooth rim, divided into six petals decorated with phytomorphic motifs. The shaft and the knot, divided hexagonally and with the same decoration, show a beautiful fretwork. The sub-cup is ornamented with lobed tongues and embossed pearls encircling them.
A late Gothic work attributable to the goldsmith Cristóbal de Dueñas, of an anachronistic style, but who left a good number of works in our environment, partly preserved today, which reveal a successful activity that disappears around 1558.
The Gaudí Palace is open from Monday to Sunday from 10:30 am to 2:00 pm and in the afternoons from 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm. The piece is on display on the second floor of the Palace and will be moved at the end of the month where it will remain on display until the end of the year, with the rest of the outstanding works.