Reliquary Diptych

Central Italian

Not on view

In his Craftsman's Handbook (about 1390), the Florentine artist Cennino Cennini outlines the "individual attractive, fine and unusual" process of gilding glass "for the embellishment of holy reliquaries." Here, small relics with identifying inscriptions are enclosed behind the decorated glass panels. The technique was often adopted for works made for Franciscans. This was surely the case here, since the reliquary features Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata and Saint Louis of Toulouse, as well as scenes of the Virgin and Christ child, Crucifixion, Saint Elizabeth (?), Saint Agnes, and Saint John the Baptist.

Reliquary Diptych, Verre églomisé, polychromy, wood, metal, and possible human remains, Central Italian

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Reliquary Diptych, Verre églomisé, polychromy, wood, metal, and possible human remains, Central Italian
Reliquary Diptych, Verre églomisé, polychromy, wood, metal, and possible human remains, Central Italian
Reliquary Diptych, Verre églomisé, polychromy, wood, metal, and possible human remains, Central Italian
Reliquary Diptych, Verre églomisé, polychromy, wood, metal, and possible human remains, Central Italian
Reliquary Diptych, Verre églomisé, polychromy, wood, metal, and possible human remains, Central Italian

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