German, circa 1570 - 1620

Hermann P. Lockner, Würzburg;
Mrs. Leopold Blumka, New York.

New York, The Guennol Collection, (exhibition catalogue), The Brooklyn Museum, 1991, p. 47, illus.

The Guennol Collection, vol. III, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1991, p. 47, illus.

Bezoar stones, which are comprised of partially digested materials from certain animals, were thought to have curative and magical properties by medieval Arab and Persian philosophers. Their status as a panacea was then later recognized in Europe, where nobility would collect them for their talismanic powers, adorn them with precious metals and add them to their Kunstkammer collections. Royal treasuries, such as those of the Dukes of Alba and Berry were recorded to have bezoar stones amongst their collections.

The ornamentation seen here was believed to enhance the mystical effects of the stone. Another example of a bezoar stone can be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession number: 1980.228.1, .2a, b, .3).