Pair of Large 18th Century Baroque Reliquaries Now Containing Oil Paintings

A pair of charming Burmese leather mâché Burmese tigers, with glass eyes and bone teeth.

A pair of French XVIII Century painted armchairs. In their original condition, newly upholstered in XIX Century hand died French linen.

Pair of traditional Japanese Imari Edo period plates. No repairs or chips, just rubbing to the gilding and glaze.

A pair of Italian 18th century, carved and silver leaf candlesticks as lamps.  

A French faience corpus manufactured in Rouen. The cross now missing and with historic damage to the wrists and ankles.

A fine 18th century Indo-Portuguese corpus, carved out of solid ebony. In very good condition with a good patina.

A stunning antique Italian Baroque style silvered metal gilded wood monstrance reliquary. circa 1770-1820 Handmade in Italy in the late 18th / early 19th century, commissioned by the church to display an important religious relic, sculptural painted wood form, mounted with decorative silver repousse metal facing, open oval window where the philatory relic was once housed, rising on a gold gilt painted shaped plinth base. Dimensions: (approx) 17" High, 8" Wide, 5" Deep, 1.25lbs History: Reliquaries (also referred to as a shrine or châsse in French), are containers used to protect and display relics. A portable reliquary may be called a fereter, and a chapel in which it is housed a feretory. A monstrance, also known as an ostensorium (or an ostensory), is a vessel used in Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, High Church Lutheran and Anglican churches for the display on an altar of some object of piety, such as the consecrated Eucharistic host during Eucharistic adoration or Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. It is also used as reliquary for the public display of relics of some saints. The use of reliquaries became an important part of Christian practices from at least the 4th century, initially in the Eastern Churches, which adopted the practice of moving and dividing the bodies of saints much earlier than the West, probably in part because the new capital of Constantinople, unlike Rome, lacked buried saints. Relics are venerated in the Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic and some Anglican Churches. Reliquaries provide a means of protecting and displaying relics. While frequently taking the form of caskets, they range in size from simple pendants or rings to very elaborate ossuaries. The relics were enshrined in containers crafted of or covered with gold, silver, gems, and enamel. These objects constituted a important form of artistic production across Europe and Byzantium throughout the Middle Ages. Many were designed with portability in mind, often being exhibited in public or carried in procession on the saint's feast day or on other holy days. Pilgrimages often centered on the veneration of relics. The faithful often venerate relics by bowing before the reliquary or kissing it; those churches which observe the veneration of relics distinguish between the honor given to the saints and the worship that is due to God alone. Sixteenth-century reformers such as Martin Luther opposed the use of relics since many had no proof of historical authenticity and objected to a cult of saints. Many reliquaries, particularly in northern Europe, were destroyed by Calvinists or Calvinist sympathizers during the Reformation...

Opulent 18th century Baroque carved giltwood reliquary (a container for relics) monstrance with curled scroll design. It houses a first-class relic of the blood of the15th Century sa...

A stunning pair of mid-18th century Italian Baroque Putti beautifully crafted in polychromed wood - now resting on their iron stands. Charming position w...

Two carved wood 18th century Baroque cupids. With crown of foliage.

Pair of wood angels sculptures - France, 18th century.

A truly magnificent and wonderful large hand-carved Italian Baroque wood church angel from the 18th Century. This work, which at one point was likely pol...