Reliquary Casket
maker
Unknown
Dateabout 1200-1250
Place MadeLimoges, Limousin, France, Europe
MediumChamplevé enamel on copper with semi-precious stones
Dimensions16.5 x 13.5 x 8 cm (6 1/2 x 5 5/16 x 3 1/8 in.)
ClassificationsLiturgical Containers
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberM27w42
eMuseum ID728798
EmbARK ObjectID12661
TMS Source ID1725
Last Updated8/14/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryCreated in the Middle Ages for important ecclesiastical and royal patrons, the colorful enamels of Limoges, France were renowned throughout Europe. Four figures of saints decorate the front of this reliquary casket which would house the relics (fragments of bone, skin, or hair) of a holy person. Isabella purchased it in 1897 when she and her husband Jack were visiting Munich, Germany. She placed it with other liturgical items in the Ecclesiastical Case in the Long Gallery.
BibliographyNotesGilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 240.
“Notes, Records, Comments.” Gardner Museum Calendar of Events 8, no. 8 (25 Oct. 1964), p. 2.
Nathaniel Silver and Diana Seave Greenwald. Isabella Stewart Gardner: A Life (Boston, 2022), pp. 99-101, fig. 51.
“Notes, Records, Comments.” Gardner Museum Calendar of Events 8, no. 8 (25 Oct. 1964), p. 2.
Nathaniel Silver and Diana Seave Greenwald. Isabella Stewart Gardner: A Life (Boston, 2022), pp. 99-101, fig. 51.
ProvenanceNotesPurchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from the antique dealer Theodor Einstein & Co., Munich on 16 August 1897 for 1230 marks through her husband, John L. Gardner, Jr. (1837–1898).
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