Priest Holding a Reliquary (MET 47.101.49)
This priest holds a reliquary tube containing a cloth-wrapped relic of the monk St. Macarius of Egypt. The tube is engraved with the text “The arm bone of Saint Macarius of Egypt” in Latin and bears remnants of enamel (colored glass that is fused to metal). French workshops that specialized in enamel decoration produced objects of high value, including reliquaries. Medieval Christians took the bones of saints and placed them in decorative containers to be venerated as relics and used in churches to enhance the sacredness of the space. Many crusaders took relics, like this one, home with them, and these relics were regularly wrapped in eastern Mediterranean silks.
