Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Reliquary in the Form of a Ball
Not on view
This may be the only existing reliquary in the form of a ball. The lid construction, with tabs that lock into slots in the base, is also highly unusual. The bust-length images in black on a gold-painted band are of Christ, the Virgin, and six unidentifiable men and women, perhaps saints whose relics were once stored inside. The lower half of the object, with its red encircled rosettes against a black ground, mimics the patterns of luxury silks.
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