English: Rosary

About 1475-1500
Germany
Silver, silver-gilt, wood, amber

In the hope of gaining Salvation after death, Christians would repeatedly recite salutations and prayers, especially the Lord\'s prayer and the Hail Mary. Rosaries were and are used by Roman Catholics to assist in their devotions, the beads acting as a tactile reminder of the numbers of prayers to be said by the owner. In this example the small wooden beads are divided into groups of five by larger marker beads or by silver beads in the form of the instruments of Christ\'s Passion. It is thought that the smaller beads each represent an Ave Maria ( Hail Mary) prayer, and the larger ones a Pater Noster (Our Father).This rosary also has images of St Catherine and St Barbara, both models of steadfast faith.

By the fifteenth century, rosaries were important features of devotion in everyday life. In many fifteenth-century portraits, the sitter\'s piety is demonstrated by their possession and display of a rosary, their wealth by the materials from which the rosary was made.