The relationship between religion and art seems to have always been closely linked. Artists have transformed religious beliefs into various forms of art works such as murals, sculptures, and buildings, making worship not only a part of peoples lives. . Take rosary beads for prayer, for example. Usually rosary beads are in the shape of balls, sheets, etc. that are easy to move. However, some people will be more particular and design exquisite carvings, hollows, inlays or paintings on the surface of the rosary beads. The Prayer Nut I want to introduce to you today is a luxurious version of rosary beads used by the wealthy class in Northern Europe in the 16th century.
The Prayer Nut is a small wooden ball, only a few inches in diameter, with fine hollow carvings on the outside. When you open it, you will see scenes of more complicated biblical stories, such as the Passion of Christ. Etc., the artistic value is different from the common rosary beads, and the value naturally rises with the tide. Therefore, at that time, owning a Prayer Nut represented not only the piety of faith, but also identity and status.
With the passage of time, the remaining Prayer Nuts are very rare. There are only a few museum collections in the world, such as the British Museum in London, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Among them, the Vienna Art Museum The Prayer Nut collected by the History Museum has the most exquisite and exquisite workmanship.
A few days ago, a Prayer Nut was sold at a Sothebys auction for a sky-high price of GBP 133,250. It seems that no matter how the times change, Prayer Nut is still the best spokesperson for status and class.
