Medieval French crozier (early 1200’s), enamel on copper.
From the Walters Museum of Art: The
volute (spiral head) of this crozier resembles a dragon. With a long
curving neck covered with blue enamel scales, its grinning head bites at
a leafy branch. Inside are the Virgin Mary and the Archangel Gabriel in
a scene of the Annunciation. Gabriel's abbreviated greeting "Hail Mary,
full of Grace" (Luke 1:28) appears in white enameled letters on each
side of the volute. On one side the greeting is misspelled. In Christian
symbolism, the dragon represented the Devil who misled mankind, while
the Annunciation initiated Christ's birth and human redemption.
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