Prayer bead with the Prayer of the Rosary and the Lamentation

Prayer bead with the Prayer of the Rosary and the Lamentation) refers to a pair of boxwood miniature medallions originating from Flanders around the early 16th century, probably between 1490-1530. Made from boxwood and silver, they were originally the interiors of a prayer nut.
One interior shows the Virgin and Child alongside a kneeling nun who holds a string of beads in her hand and is shown facing the saints. The inside border of the medallion is inscribed with the words "O mater dei memento mei". The second interior shows a somber Pietà, with Mary, Saint John and Mary Magdalene mourning the death of Jesus. It is lined with an inscription taken from Acts 7:59 which reads: dne ihu xre accipe spiu meu.
Unusually for objects of this type, which are characterised by their approach to Horror vacui, very little of the available border surface is used for inscriptions, indeed the objects are not as detailed as most other extant boxwood prayer nuts, and have been described as "modest".
The beads were gifted to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, by J. Pierpont Morgan in 1917. They were formerly owned by M. Charles Mannheim of Paris.