Cupboard for the treasure of the Basle Münster

Description

According to an inventory of 1477 the two stage four doored cupboard was donated to the Münster by the chaplain Johannes Hanffstengel, who died in 1452. It was fitted into an upper bay of the vault of the Romanesque sacristy in the Munster, and this situation was reconstructed for its installation in the 'Schatzkammer' (treasure chamber) of the Barfüsserkirche in 1906. The frame of the Late Gothic cupboard consists of an openwork frieze of leafy tendrils running through birds, flowers and grapes and crowned on top by merlons. The panels of the doors are decorated with openwork tracery on red and blue backgrounds. The iron hinges develop at each end into stylized garlands, which blossom into Basle crosiers in three places. This gives an indication of the important function of the cupboard: it contained the liturgical instruments and vessels of the Basle Münster treasury.