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

Where was this produced?

By Brooke Hendershott '23


This statue was made in Northern France, with its relic nominally from North Africa, and the relic's fine textile wrapping made somewhere in North Africa, the eastern Mediterranean, or possibly Spain. The iconography present in the statue and its carvings are French Gothic.

The priest has the tonsured hair of medieval monks. This specific tonsure has a shaved circle at the top of the head, which was a Latin Catholic practice that would have been concentrated in western Europe, including France.

French Gothic style is also present on the statue's base. The base has cutout quatrefoils (four petaled flowers) on its faces, a motif present in many French Gothic sculptures and architecture. It is also carved with leaves and vines, another pattern often used by Gothic designers. Finally, there are mythical beasts and lion feet at the bottom of the base, common in other French reliquaries and bases at the time, as seen in this comparable base from the Boston MFA's collection.


Finally, the relic tube uses champlevé enamel. This technique was developed in France in the 12th century.

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