Bringing the Holy Land Home: The Crusades, Chertsey Abbey, and the Reconstruction of a Medieval Masterpiece

When was it made?

By Brooke Hendershott '23


This statue is from 1250-1275, with the contained relic dating to the 4th century, and the fabric around said relic being undated. The statue dating comes partially from its similarities to other French reliquaries made at the time. The relic tube has remnants of a kind of enamel that was at the height of its popularity in the late 1200s. The base of the statue also bears a striking resemblance to another reliquary base from the same time and place that is in the Boston MFA's collection. France also did much of its crusading during the 1200s, so it is most likely that the relic would have been brought back to France during the century.

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