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Reliquary in Purse Form
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This precious reliquary, adorned on its front and sides with colored glass, precious stones, and two medallions featuring the enthroned Virgin and Child and an eagle, forms part of a group of closely related objects manufactured in the Upper Rhine region shortly after 1300. The purse shape, with its peaked roof and cylindrical top, derives from much earlier Carolingian and Romanesque prototypes. The reliquary was originally suspended from the rings on both sides of the sloping roof.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineReliquary in Purse Form, c. 1320. Germany, Upper Rhine, Southern Swabia, Gothic period, 14th century. Copper, gilded and engraved; glass; rock crystal; precious stones; wood core; overall: 17.2 x 13.4 x 7.7 cm (6 3/4 x 5 1/4 x 3 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1932.422
