Renaissance Nuremberg Brass Alms Bowl

A finely worked Renaissance brass alms bowl, the well repoussé with a radiating image of the Virgin Mary standing in glory upon a crescent moon, her figure enveloped by a sunburst aureola. The outer rim is enriched with a repeating punched border of geometric motifs, a hallmark of Nuremberg workshop production.
The iconography is drawn directly from Revelation 12:1: “A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” This imagery reflects the enduring medieval and Renaissance devotion to the Virgin Mary as the Woman of the Apocalypse, and such bowls were often used in ecclesiastical settings for the collection of offerings.