Pyx, 1500-1700, (1881). Etching of a carved boxwood pyx, possibly made in Venice or the Balkans, between the 16th and 17th centuries. A pyx is a small round container used to carry the consecrated host (Eucharist), to the sick or those otherwise unable to come to church in order to receive catholic Holy Communion. This example is carved with scenes of the Passion, and has a niello finial and engraved silver gilt rim. From "The South Kensington Museum", a book of engraved illustrations, with descriptions, of the works of art in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (formerly known as the South Kensington Museum). [Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, London, 1881]