Priest Holding a Reliquary (front view)
1 media/MET Cloisters 47.101.49 Priest Holding Reliquary_thumb.jpeg 2021-11-03T13:33:35-07:00 Brooke Hendershott b0a907cd0f989ee79e94592378a1545647719cfb 39447 3 Priest Holding a Reliquary, made in Northern France, ca. 1250–75. Copper and glass (27.3 x 13.1 x 11.8 cm). New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters, 47.101.49. Image © Metropolitan Museum of Art. plain 2022-06-09T09:12:59-07:00 Brooke Hendershott b0a907cd0f989ee79e94592378a1545647719cfbThis page is referenced by:
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2021-11-03T14:02:34-07:00
Priest Holding a Reliquary (MET 47.101.49)
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2022-06-14T13:04:47-07:00
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By Brooke Hendershott '23
This small statue of a priest holds a glass tube containing a very important religious relic: a sliver of the arm bone of St. Macarius of Egypt. It was made in northern France, seemingly to hold the relic brought back by a crusader and rapped in precious fabric. The fact that a statue was made for just a sliver of a saint's bone shows the importance of relics to Crusaders throughout the Christian world and how this manifested on their journeys. It also shows French Gothic metalworking techniques in action and their contrast to other metal works in this exhibition. -
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2021-11-03T13:50:10-07:00
Why was this made and how was it used?
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2022-06-13T12:28:02-07:00
By Brooke Hendershott '23
Relics such as this arm bone sliver needed reliquaries to keep them safe and honor their significance to the patrons or pilgrims that came to see it. Reliquaries like this priest were often made for a specific church or clergyman to be used in masses or on feast days. The small statue would have been either hung from the ceiling or placed on a tall pedestal to make it visible throughout the church while also securing it in a place that thieves would have a hard time accessing. The gold sheen that originally covered the statue would have glittered in the sun or candlelight to give a divine aura to the relic.
This priest appears to have specifically cast or repurposed for this arm bone relic. If relics were taken from a previous collection, they were often kept in their original reliquaries as the exotic quality of the art's craftsmanship raised its value in its new homeland. The bone was most likely loose in its original resting place in Egypt, brought back there by Pope Michael V, so it needed to be made a reliquary once it got to France. The composition of the statue draws focus to the relic and its fine wrappings, and the enameling that was originally present on the relic tube would have made its bright colors stand out even more against the metallic surface of the rest of the statue. -
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2021-11-03T13:49:20-07:00
What is this?
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2022-06-13T12:27:34-07:00
By Brooke Hendershott '23
This statue is a "reliquary": a piece of art that holds a relic. In this case, the small glass tube holds a piece of an arm bone supposedly from the Christian St. Macarius of Egypt. Christian relics are the remains of holy people or objects, most commonly the body parts of saints or objects of Jesus', such as the crown of thorns. Relics have always had a very important role in Christianity, and they continue to be important today. Objects such as the crown of thorns or Mary's shroud are seen as inherently holy because of their direct connection to the foundation figures of Christianity.
Originally, relics were a way to celebrate the sacrifices martyrs made for their faith, but eventually, after Christianity was legalized, it expanded to include saints and holy people who were not killed in the name of God. Against theological doctrine, zealous believers thought that the bodies of the saints held their holiness even after death, leading to body part veneration. Over time, the tradition slowly morphed. Bodies were moved from simple graves to special tombs or churches so pilgrims could find particular saints easier. The bodies were also often run over with water, oil, or fabric to make "secondary" relics. This later shifted again, and bodies were stolen and separated into fragments and taken to legitimize churches and leaders.
In 1204, Crusaders sacked Constantinople on their way to the Holy Land. Until then, the city housed the majority of all Christian relics in exquisitely made reliquaries. This destabilized the core of the Byzantine empire and drove the leaders to sell their massive stash of relics to try to keep the government afloat. These relics were dispersed throughout Europe throughout the Crusades, giving them increased value as a status symbol for individuals rather than purely for rulers or religious institutions. -
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2021-11-03T13:51:03-07:00
Who made this?
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2022-06-13T12:28:29-07:00
By Brooke Hendershott '23
The artist of this piece is unknown. Most small sculptures such as this are not signed or attributed to any specific artist. These bronzes were common in France at the time, so there were workshops of enamellers and metalworkers spread throughout the country. To make a piece of this fidelity, the artists were clearly highly skilled and specialized in bronze and champlevé enamel, as well as used to making these kinds of pieces relatively quickly and efficiently.
The textile was most likely made in one of the large textile industries in the East (for more details visit Textiles). These workers were also highly specialized in their field and worked with very valuable materials such as silk, so the small piece used to wrap this bone only accentuated that it was something important, to be treasured and protected on its journey.