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Date : near 800
Material : Cloisonné enamel, Gilded silver and niello
Acquisition : (1917)
| Item 40 on 80
Objet(s) d'Art
Object of worship
Vitrine : V03
Area related
Constantinople (Turkey)
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| Description |  |
The cross upon which the Christ was crucified is said to have been discovered in the early fourth century by Saint Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman emperor. During the Byzantine era, small pieces of the True Cross were distributed as gifts and housed in precious containers to be venerated by the faithful.
This finely made box is one of the earliest examples of a True Cross reliquary. On the lid, worked in cloisonné, Christ is shown alive on the cross, wearing the long tunic (colobium) popular in early Byzantine depictions of this scene and flanked by the mourning figures of the Virgin and Saint John.
On the reverse, worked in niello, are four episodes from the life of Christ : the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Crucifixion and the Anastasis. The lid slides back to reveal five compartments for relics arranges in the shape of a cross.
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