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A gift from Napoleon

Silver chalice. Grosseto, Maremma museum of art and archaeology
Silver chalice. Grosseto, Maremma museum of art and archaeology

In the Art and Archaeology Museum of the Maremma, one finds a chalice with a worked circular base and three panels with symbols of the Eucharist and the Passion alternating with bunches of grapes on the body. Inside the cup there are three medallions with symbols of the Passion and Saint Lawrence, the protector of Grosseto and the saint to whom the church is dedicated. In the cavetto of the paten there is a depiction of the Last Supper.
It is held that the chalice was given personally as a gift by Napoleon to Monsignor Fabrizio Selvi, the bishop of Grosseto (from 1793 to 1835), but this argument is the subject of further study. It has been ascertained that Selvi belonged to a group of pro–Napoleon prelates (called the Reds) and was decorated with the Ordre Imperial dè la Rèunion (1814). The chalice was made in Paris between 1811 and 1813.

Chalice and paten
Art and Archaeology Museum of the Maremma
Piazza Baccarini, 3
Grosseto