The core of this opulent reliquary contains a large late twelfth-century rock crystal with engraved vine scroll patterns from the Meuse Valley (present-day Belgium). It was said to have once held relics of Saints Margaret, Philip the Apostle, and Catherine as well as of Bishop Valerius. The present neo-Gothic setting may reflect the original reliquary form.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Reliquary
Date:ca. 1175–1200 (rock crystal); early 19th century (setting)
Geography:Made in France (?)
Culture:French (?)
Medium:Gilded copper, rock crystal, glass, and parchment
Dimensions:Overall: 13 7/8 x 12 5/8 x 6 1/4 in. (35.2 x 32.1 x 15.8 cm) Rock Crystal: 3 1/16 x 8 11/16 x 3 1/16 in. (7.8 x 22 x 7.8 cm)
Classification:Metalwork-Copper
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number:17.190.813
comte Clément Wenceslas de Renesse-Breidbach, Belgium (sold 1836); Louis-Fidel Debruge-Duménil (French), Paris (sold 1849); Prince Peter Soltykoff, Paris (1849–sold 1861); Baron Achille Sellière, Paris (1861–sold 1890); Baron Albert Oppenheim, Cologne(1890–sold 1906); J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (1906–1917)
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Palais du Trocadéro. "Exposition universelle internationale de 1878," May 1–November 10, 1878.
South Kensington Museum. "The Oppenheim Collection," 1906.
Greenwich, CT. Bruce Museum. "Fakes and Forgeries: The Art of Deception," May 12, 2007–September 9, 2007.
Labarte, Jules. Description des objets d'art qui composent la collection Debruge-Duménil. Paris: Librairie archéologique de Victor Didron, 1847. no. 953, pp. 645–46.
Catalogue des objets d'art qui composent la collection Debruge-Duménil. Paris: Bonnefons de Lavialle, January 23–March 12, 1850. no. 953, pp. 108–9.
Darcel, Alfred. "Exposition Universelle de 1878: Le Moyen Âge et la Renaissance au Trocadéro (part 2)." Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 2nd ser., 18, no. 4 (April 1878). p. 543, ill. p. 547.
Darcel, Alfred. L'Art Ancien à l'Exposition de 1878, edited by Louis Gonse. Paris: A. Quantin, 1879. p. 233, ill. p. 231.
Molinier, Emile. Collection du Baron Albert Oppenheim: Tableaux et objets d'art, catalogue précédé d'une introduction. Paris: Librairie Centrale des Beaux-Arts, 1904. no. 134, p. 57, pl. LXXII.
The New York Times. "Mr. Morgan's Old Carvings." The New York Times (November 18, 1906). p. X4, ill. pictorial supplement "The Oppenheim–Morgan Collection".
Williamson, George Charles. Catalogue of the Collections of Jewels and Precious Works of Art: The Property of J. Pierpont Morgan. Deluxe ed. London: Chiswick Press, 1910. no. 71, pp. 105–6, pl. LI.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1925. pp. 91, 103, fig. 57.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 2nd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1929. pp. 91, 103, fig. 57.
Kohlhaussen, Heinrich. "Gotisches Kunstgewerbe." In Geschichte des Kunstgewerbes aller Zeiten und Völker, edited by Helmuth Theodor Bossert. Vol. 5. Berlin: E. Wasmuth, 1932. pp. 371–72.
Braun, Joseph. Die Reliquiare des christlichen Kultes und ihre Entwicklung. Freiburg im Breisgau: Verlag Herder, 1940. pp. 107, 217–19, pl. 3, fig. 10.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mediaeval Jewelry: A Picture Book. New York: Museum Press Limited, 1940. pl. 16.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mediaeval Jewelry: A Picture Book. 2nd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1944. pl. 16.
Wagner de Kertesz, Margarita. Historia Universal de las Joyas. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Centurion, 1947. p. 365.
Hahnloser, Hans Robert. "Theophilus Presbyter und die Inkunabeln des mittelalterlichen Kristallschliffs an Rhein und Maas." In Rhein und Maas: Kunst und Kultur 800–1400. Volume 2, Berichte, Beiträge und Forschungen zum Themenkreis der Ausstellung und des Katalogs, edited by Anton Legner. Cologne: Museum Schnütgen, 1973. pp. 289–92, fig. 8, 8a.
Bucher, François C. "Micro-Architecture as the 'Idea' of Gothic Theory and Style." Gesta 15, no. 1/2 (1976). pp. 72, 82, pl. 6a.
Ryser, Frieder, and Brigitte Salmen. 'Amalierte Stuck uff Glas / Hinder Glas gemalte Historien und Gemäld': Hinterglaskunst von der Antike bis zur Neuzeit. Murnau am Staffelsee: Schlossmuseum Murnau, 1995. p. 41.
Timmermann, Achim. "Architectural Vision in Albrecht von Scharfenberg's Jungerer Titurel - A Vision of Architecture." In Architecture and language : constructing identity in European architecture, c. 1000-c. 1650, edited by Georgia Clarke, and Paul Crossley. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. fig. 17, pp. 65–66.
Hall-Duncan, Nancy. "The Art of Deception." In Fakes and Forgeries: The Art of Deception, edited by Peter C. Sutton, Nancy Hall-Duncan, Abigail D. Newman, and James Martin. Wilmington: Bruce Museum, 2007. no. 10, p. 30.
Sutton, Peter C., Nancy Hall-Duncan, Abigail D. Newman, and James Martin, ed. Fakes and Forgeries: The Art of Deception. Wilmington: Bruce Museum, 2007. no. 10, pp. 54–55.
Timmermann, Achim. Real presence : sacrament houses and the body of Christ, c. 1270-1600. Turnhout, BE: Brepols, 2009. p.14, fig 5.
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