Unknown
(German, Rhineland)
Portable Reliquary
ca. 1350
Gilded silver, rock crystal
3.63 x 1.5 x 1.5 in
9.21 x 3.81 x 3.81 cm
Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund
66.36.2
This piece of rock crystal, bored through the middle, serves as the chamber to display a relic. It is held between two gilt-silver terminals, standing on four claw-shaped legs. Rock crystal magnified the relics, and it was also believed to produce spiritual purity, thereby representing the real presence of the saint held within. During the Gothic period, an increased interest in viewing the actual relics led to the production of transparent reliquaries like this one, allowing believers to see them without having the relics removed from the containers.
JS