CIBORIUM  , a name in classical Latin for a drinking-

vessel . Ii is the latinized form of the Gr . Kiswpwv, the cup-shaped seed-vessel of the Egyptian water-lily, the seeds or nuts of which were known as " Egyptian beans." In the early Christian CIBRARIO Church the ciborium was a canopy over the altar (q.v.), supported on columns, and from it hung the receptacle in which was reserved the consecrated wafer of the Eucharist . The use of the word has probably been much influenced by the early false connexion with cibos, food, cf . Agatio, bishop of Pisa (quoted in Du Cange, Gloss. s.v.), " Ciborium vas esse ad ferendos cibos." In the Eastern Church the columns rested on the altar itself, in the Western they reached the ground . The name was early transferred from the canopy to the vessel containing the reserved sacrament, and in the Western Church the canopy was known as a " baldaquin," Ital. baldacchino, from Baldacco, the Itilian name of Bagdad, and hence applied to a rich kind of embroidered tapestry made there and much used for canopies, &c . At the present day it is usual in the Roman Church to use the term " pyx " (ii s, properly a vessel made of boxwood) for the receptacle for the reserved sacrament used in administering the viaticum to the sick or dying . Medieval pyxes and ciboria are often beautiful examples of the goldsmith's, enameller's and metal-worker's craft . They take most usually the shape of a covered chalice or of a cylindrical box with conical or cylindrical cover surmounted by a cross . An exquisite ciborium fetched £6000 at the sale of the Jerdone Braikenridge collection at Christie's in 1908 . It is supposed to have come from Malmesbury Abbey, and is probably of 13th-century English make . It is of copper-gilt and ornamented with champleve enamels, apple and chrysoprase green, scarlet, mauve and white, turquoise and lapis lazuli, the flesh tints being of a pale jasper .

Various subjects from the Old and New Testament, such as the

sacrifice of Abel, the "brazen serpent, the nativity, crucifixion and resurrection are represented on circular medallions on the outside . It is illustrated in colours in the catalogue of the exhibition of the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1897 .