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 4 Priest Holding a Reliquary, made in Northern France, circa 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 2022-10-02T13:00:48-07:00 Brooke Hendershott b0a907cd0f989ee79e94592378a1545647719cfbThis page is referenced by:
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2021-11-03T13:50:10-07:00
Why was this made and how was it used?
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2022-12-22T08:26:29-08:00
By Brooke Hendershott '23
Relics such as this sliver of a saint's arm bone needed reliquaries to keep them safe and to honor their significance to owners or pilgrims. Reliquaries like this priest were often made for a specific church to be used in masses or on feast days. The gold color that originally covered the statue would have glittered in the sun or candlelight, providing a divine aura for 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 of St. Macarius was most likely loose in its original resting place in Egypt, so it needed to be made a reliquary once it arrived in France. The composition of the statue draws focus to the relic and its fine fabric 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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2021-11-03T13:51:03-07:00
Who made this?
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2023-01-13T06:58:06-08:00
By Brooke Hendershott '23
The artist of this piece is unknown. Most small medieval sculptures such as this are not signed or attributed to any specific artist. Workshops of enamellers and metalworkers were spread throughout the country. The artists who made this piece were highly skilled and specialized in bronze and champlevé enamel.
The textile in the glass tube was probably made in one of the textile workshops in the eastern Mediterranean (for more details visit Textiles). These workers were also highly specialized in their field and worked with valuable materials such as silk, so the small piece used to wrap this bone accentuated that it was something important, to be treasured and protected on its journey.
