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Mold for a Eulogia (Blessing) Bread
600s-900s
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
It was a common early Christian practice to stamp images and inscriptions into loaves of bread using special molds. Representing the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on Mount Golgotha--the hill outside Jerusalem on which Christ was crucified and entombed--this wooden mold was probably used to stamp loaves of bread distributed to pilgrims visiting Jerusalem, in commemoration of their journey.
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Details
- Title: Mold for a Eulogia (Blessing) Bread
- Date Created: 600s-900s
- Physical Dimensions: Diameter: 8.8 x 1.9 cm (3 7/16 x 3/4 in.)
- Provenance: (Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mallon, New York, NY, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art)., The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Type: Sculpture
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1951.152
- Medium: wood
- Fun Fact: Medieval Christian pilgrims often traveled months or years to religious sites in the Holy Land and returned home with blessed mementos of their journey, such as vials of holy water, relics from saints, and even special loaves of bread. This mold was used to mark bread with an image of the Church of Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem; the bread was then distributed to pilgrims.
- Department: Medieval Art
- Culture: Byzantium, Palestine, Byzantine period, 7th-10th century
- Credit Line: Thirty-fifth anniversary gift of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mallon
- Collection: MED - Byzantine
- Accession Number: 1951.152
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