Balkans or Greek Pyx

Gilded & Niello Chased Silver Portable Pyx – Container for the Communion Host

This exceptionally fine and beautiful box is of solid silver that has been gilded (gold plated). It is a portable pyx used by a Christian Orthodox priest in the Greek and Balkans outreaches of the Ottoman Empire to carry the Communion host, known locally as the prosphoron, a small loaf of leavened bread used in Orthodox Christian and Greek Catholic (Byzantine) liturgies.

The box, of circular form, is chased over the hinged lid and around the sides with intricate floral and leaf motifs. The lid itself is domed and so the decoration is in high relief. The silverwork decoration is very similar to that seen on the scabbards of Ottoman period Greek and Balkans daggers and swords of the period (Elgood, 2009, p. 122).

The base is not gilded but is decorated in niello with a Cross and the letters ‘IC AC’ and ‘INBI’ as well as other letters and what appears to be a date of 1850. (INBI stands for the Greek ‘Iesous o Nazoraios o Basileus ton Ioudaion’ or ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews’.)

The interior is lined or at least filled in and gilded, making the box appropriate for the storage of an item meant for human consumption. A small ring is attached to the side to allow the box to be suspended from the neck or clothing of a priest. Such a loop would have aided with the portability of the box, which would have been important for when the priest would need to travel to administer last rites.

The

prosphoron bread is made up of two separate round pieces of leavened dough which are placed one on top of another and baked together to form a single loaf. This double-loaf represents the two natures of Christ: the human and the divine. Before baking, each prosphoron is impressed with a stamp usually bearing the image of a cross with the Greek letters ‘IC XC NIKA’ (‘Jesus Christ conquers’) around the arms of the cross. A version of this is to be found in niello on the base of the box here.

The box is in excellent condition. The gilding has softened with age and handling to a delightful hue. The box feels heavy in the hand. It is an excellent and rare item.

Elgood, R., The Arms of Greece: And her Balkan Neighbours in the Ottoman Period, Thames & Hudson, 2009.

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