Delving into the Magdalene’s vase: the ointment jar from the Middle Ages to Early Modernity

Abstract

In the art of medieval and early modern Europe, Mary Magdalene can be identified by the vase she holds. Other iconographic studies of Mary Magdalene mention her ointment jar, but while images may be brought before the reader, the vase is generally mentioned as the object that permits the author to name the figure and little more. This article intends to tap the rich meanings and connotations of the vase beyond simple visual signifier in studying it – in form and materials and function – through an anthropological lens. It will do so in examining a corpus of Italian images, at the forefront of Magdalenian iconography since the invention of the “indigenous icon,” as defined by Hans Belting, and the effects of Franciscan patronage that so invested this saint with their particular strain of piety. We will see that the inventiveness of Italian artists, particularly as applied to the alabastron, continues from the 1270 panel of Guido da Siena through to the early modern era with Titian’s 1535 Pitti Magdalene. After this period, with the Counter-Reformation’s more formulaic directives, the vase seems to have lost some of its density of meaning. For the period considered, the thirteenth through the sixteenth centuries, the results will demonstrate an intimate connection with her conversion, her femaleness, and her role in the narrative of redemption.

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