Collection record · Belief & ritual
Frame for a Portable Reliquary Icon
The collection record classifies this work as glass. It is dated 1347. Recorded culture or place: Italy, Siena.
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A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Frame for a Portable Reliquary Icon
- Date
- 1347
- Culture / origin
- Italy, Siena
- Materials and technique
- gilded wood, modeled gesso, verre églomisé, glass cabochons, and relics
- Dimensions
- Overall: 66.7 x 51.3 x 25.3 cm (26 1/4 x 20 3/16 x 9 15/16 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Not specified by the museum
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 1978.26
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
With intricate carvings and lavish gilding, this frame holds 17 labeled relics, mostly bodily remains or belongings of saints, worshiped for their spiritual significance. The frame once contained a gilded glass image of the Virgin Mary and Christ child. A Latin inscription around the base likely refers to Mino Cinughi, rector (administrator) of the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala in Siena during 1340–51, which cared for pilgrims on the way to Rome. Believers sought healing in medieval hospitals through the veneration of relics hoping to elicit miracles from the saints. While this object probably resided on an altar, the ornamentation on both sides suggests it was also carried in processions.
FOLLOW THE SOURCE
Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of Ruth Blumka in memory of Leopold Blumka · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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