Reliquary Pendant, Gold, Enamel, 17th-18th Centuries

One of its fronts presents a textile background under a transparent glass, space that was surely designed to contain relics. The other side has a brightly colored enamel with the Vir...

Devotional pendant made in silver with a Latin cross shape, decorated on the outside with simple scrolls, spikes, pearls and other elements of classicist inspiration, as well as a ri...

Devotional pendant or reliquary. Oil painting on aventurine, enamel, gold. Spain, 17th century. Medallion or devotional pendant or reliquary made of aventurine or aventurine with an octagonal shape and faceted fronts, enhanced with a series of enamels combining black and gold, which protect two oil paintings with a Catholic Christian religious theme, located one on each side of the piece. Protected, you can see a very particular Virgin with Child for being inspired by the Icon of the Madonna del Popolo (Rome, Italy), and a simplified Martyrdom of San Lorenzo (the saint, the grill and an angel with a crown and the palm corresponding to the subject). The edges of the piece have been protected with simple metal elements. The painting of San Lorenzo follows a common composition in the Spanish school, and would recall works such as the painting of the main altar of the Church of San Lorenzo de Huesca, for example, but also others such as the engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi (executed around 1527) in some details. The so-called icon of the Madonna del Popolo was well known for being considered as made by Saint Luke, and was brought to the church of the same denomination by Gregory IX from the Sancta Sanctorum of the Lateran Palace after a flood caused a terrible plague in the city and through a solemn procession with the image of Santa Maria del Popolo. Regarding the material of the piece, a certain type of glass and a type of quartz (which can be green or reddish-brown, and usually has tiny elements of yellow mica that give it golden reflections) is known as aventurine or aventurine. In the first case, it is known that “aventurine” or “stellaria” appears mentioned in the Murano workshops for the first time during the first quarter of the 17th century, in reference to a very complicated production paste (it is said that the name comes from of this circumstance, that is, that its creation was due to luck or luck) that imitates the effects of that stone (from India and Russia at that time) thanks to the inclusion of copper particles, and that it was used as if out of stone (cut) given the complexity of its use in blowing (practically impossible). And, dealing with this material, it is necessary to mention “The Nativity” by Pietro da Cortona, dated around 1656, which is kept in the El Prado...

Wall reliquary altar. Carved, polychrome and gilded wood, glass, metal, etc. Spanish school, 17th century. Reliquary altar made of carved, gilded and polychrome wood composed of a part that imitates a curtain of the type usually used to cover altars and other pieces when they are not used, topped by a winged angel head, and a composition organized around a tondo large central stem, from which arise a series of stems ending in scrolls. Some of these stems (eight in total) eventually form a kind of crown of leaves in the center of which are as many circular reliquaries of saints. In this mentioned central tondo there is an Agnus Dei (or Ágnusdei) made of wax. On the visible side there is an image of the Risen Christ (inspired by the one sculpted by Michelangelo Buonarroti around 1520 and found in Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome) accompanied by angels with symbols of the Passion and on a pedestal. This image is known to have been used on these pieces before 1598, again in 1619, and again in 1690. These relics (they are blessed by the Pope) get their name because they are printed on the front, above the book with the seven seals , the haloed Paschal Lamb carrying the banner of the Resurrection. In the text around the image, it seems to include a reference to Pope Pius V...

Mary Magdalene and John the Baptist. Possibly mallorquin. One of the glasses is fractured. Oval pendant ornamented in its outline by turned gold loops and small metallic pearls. On ...

Spanish Baroque sculpture is one of the most authentic and personal examples of our art, because its conception and its form of expression arose from the people and from the deepest ...

Spectacular and very decorative piece. Carved wooden reliquary bust representing a Saint figure. Beautiful traces of its original silver and gilding. Weathered, small losses and with...

Spectacular and very decorative piece. Large carved wooden reliquary bust of a Saint. Beautiful weathered paint and gilding. Small losses / old repairs and without the relics. Italy ...

Spectacular and very decorative piece. Large hand carved wooden reliquary bust of a saint. Beautiful weathered color and gilding. Small losses/Old repairs and without the relics. Ita...

Set of three 18th century French Reliquaries. Carved wood with metal repousse over the wood Each piece contains the original Latin pages framed in o...

Beautiful and detailed reliquary holder with its original gilding, Italy, circa 1750. Weathered and small losses.

A rare silver reliquary arm with relic bone, with the coat-of-arms of Cosme Roger (1671-1710), bishop of Lombez, France, with original bone relic Poss...