Tassilo Chalice

Dating from c. 770-790 AD, the chalice was donated by Liutperga, wife of the Bavarian Duke Tassilo III, possibly on the occasion of the establishment of the Benedictine Abbey at Kremsmünster in 777.

The chalice is cast in bronze that has been gilded with gold and silver and decorated by various methods, including niello engraving and chip-carving.

[2] The chalice is an outstanding and original object, possibly made by Northumbrian craftsmen, decorated with Hiberno-Saxon ornament typical of the period.

There is evidence that monks themselves were trained as goldsmiths in the insular period, like St. Dunstan, a 10th-century Archbishop of Canterbury, and Salzburg for example, was a centre of the Anglo-Saxon mission.

Although church synods held in the 8th and 9th centuries expressly prohibited the use of copper and bronze for use in consecrated chalices,[4] this is one of a few surviving examples of such vessels from that time.