Reliquary

Anonymous

France

15th century

Polychrome wood (oak), glass, paper, bone

Deposit from the Saint-Marcoul chapel of Vattier-Voisin, 1975

Classified as a Historic Monument

Inv. D1975.5.3

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Clothed in a gold and red coat, both wings folded, the angel is behind a table containing eighteen relics, presented in small compartments. These relics are shown with small papers identifying them. Two lions form the table’s feet. On the angel’s chest, a medallion represents the Crucifixion, an image that directly echoes the relics that are shown.

Originally, the angel held under his left arm a stick pommeté, an emblem of his task as a messenger. Here he is presenting the holy relics, among which were once identified a piece of Bethlehem stone, a piece of Mount Sinai, a piece of the Sepulchre, fragments of Mount Calvary and of the pillar on which Jesus was crucified. The multiple relics that are reunited in this box thus referred to highly symbolic places that punctuated the life and Passion of Christ.