Cylindrical box with slip-on lid. The lid is engraved with the Dominican arms surrounded by a circular band with the sun, stars and other devices. An outer band of beads, representing a rosary, has a section with floral decoration. Maker’s mark: MF (twice inside the box and lid) for Mark Fallon, Galway.
Inscription: ‘Pray for Mr John Lynch of Burdox his wife & posterity who made a present to both his sisters Brigett & Ann Lynch of this host box Anno Dom 1733’.
The box was used to hold the consecrated Eucharist for the celebration of the Catholic mass.
The John Lynch commemorated on the host box is likely the same person that is commemorated on a silver chandelier, also made by Mark Fallon, currently in the Winterthur Museum in Delaware, United States. Lynch is believed to have fought for King James II at the Battle of Aughrim in 1691, and afterwards moved to France where he became a tallow merchant.
In the early 18th century many of the Tribes families in Galway donated silver pieces to religious institutions, often pieces by either Mark Fallon or Richard Joyce, both of whom were based in Galway and specialised in the production of ecclesiastical ware, particularly silver. The gifting of such prestigious items was possibly as either gifts or a dowry for their daughter or son entering the institution. Such pieces also acted as a legacy piece or memorial for the donor for years afterwards.
