Reliquary
Item
-
Work Number
-
580159
-
Title
-
Reliquary
-
Description
-
Description from card catalogue: 1635 | Enamel and gilded metal
Side 1: Two towers surmounted with domes stand at either end of the reliquary. On the leftmost tower is an interlacing organic motif with an inlaid gem. Just beneath is an icon of Christ holding the cross in one hand and making a gesture of blessing with the other. Two peacocks flank him. Below is a Greek epigram and the Evangelist Matthew. Placed into an altar of two lintels with a pediment resting above is an icon of a stylite. Saints and Evangelists are placed into the upper and lower stories of the "nave". An icon of the Virgin Hodegetria has been placed on the lower right corner next to a medallion.
Side 2: Presumably the front of the structure, this side bears the identification "Metamorphosis" done in Greek with fine metal work. Lions adorn each tower. On either side of the "door" (which is depicts the Metamorphosis or Transfiguration of Christ) is an icon of John the Baptist. The Transfiguration, though said to have taken place at Mount Tabor, Mount Sinai is often conflated with this event.
Side 3: On exterior of the upper nave, in metal panels, is the Annunciation. Below are two angels, St. Catherine laid to rest, an Evangelist and Christ performing a miracle (fishes and loaves?)
Side 4: A Virgin Blachernitissa with the Christ child apears in a roundel within a roundel at the top of the structure. Beneath this icon are the portraits of the donors (?). Below are seraphs, a bejeweled menorah, and two saints (maybe Mark or Matthew and Antony (?)).
-
Medium
-
Enamel and gilded metal
-
Subject
-
Angels
-
Catherine, of Alexandria, Burial
-
Elijah (Biblical prophet)
-
Evangelist Symbols
-
Gabriel (Archangel)
-
Jesus Christ
-
Jesus Christ, Transfiguration
-
Luke, Saint
-
Man of Sorrows
-
Mark, Saint
-
Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint, Annunciation
-
Matthew, the Apostle, Saint
-
Moses (Biblical leader)
-
Saints
-
Seraphim
-
Virgin Blachernitissa
-
Virgin Platytera
-
Bibliographic Citation
-
Johann Georg, Herzog zu Sachsen (Prince of Saxony), Das Katharinenkloster am Sinai, Leipzig-Berlin, B. G. Teubner, 1912, fig. 25.
-
Provenance
-
Gallery, case 10
