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A Unique Gift of Medieval Art and Its Mysterious Story

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A Unique Gift of Medieval Art and Its Mysterious Story This ornate Holy Thorn Reliquary (1390-97) features expertly worked gold and numerous precious stones. It depicts a complicated and theatrical scene that nearly hides the central object of worship (the thorn), as well as a prominent seal of Jean duc de Berry, the brother of Charles V who commissioned the piece. ©Trustees of the British Museum ©Trustees of the British Museum A Unique Gift of Medieval Art And its mysterious story By Miguel Bermudez most treasured possession The Reliquary was commissioned of Jean, Duc de Berry by a very learned and art-loving A(1340 -1416), namely French noble who treasured and a Reliquary containing a Thorn surrounded himself with the believed to have come from best that medieval artisans could Christ’s Crown of Thorns became create. Jean, Duc de Berry, is also a fascinating story of a skilled known for his commission of the reproduction. Très Riches Heures., a magnificent illuminated manuscript that survives at the Musee Conde in France. 48 ART MARKET MAGAZINE 49 Many centuries later the Crown was found in Byzantium (about 1063). Thorns were being given as important gifts prior to the Crown’s arrival in Byzantium. One was sent to St. Germain, Bishop of Paris, perhaps as early as the sixth century. Empress Irene sent several thorns to Charlemagne in 798 or 802. (1) The Crown with the remaining thorns was pawned by Emperor Baldwin II with the Venetians as a security deposit for an immense loan. This is when Louis IX, King of France was offered the Crown by the Emperor. The king paid the loan and the Crown found its way to France, where the splendid Saint Chapelle was built to house it. The thorns were removed and placed in a reliquary. Some sixty or seventy thorns are believed to have been taken from the crown. (2) Subsequently, Jean, Duc de Berry received several thorns from Charles V and VI of France, his brother, and nephews. One of these thorns is the one contained in this spectacular ©Trustees of the British Museum reliquary. The British Museum describes the Reliquary in detail as follows: he Reliquary, which is made of gold and adorned “Reliquary of gold, richly enameled Twith enamel and precious and set with rubies, pearls, and stones contains a thorn under a sapphires. Architectural base in rock crystal window. The story the form of a castellated fortress of the thorn in and of itself is with a half-length angel sounding fascinating and it had a long a trumpet occupying each turret, journey before being placed the base also with arms of Jean, inside the reliquary. A Crown of Duc de Berry in rectangular Thorns was already mentioned panels of blue and red translucent and venerated in Jerusalem by enamel. the fifth century, the first written account which appeared to be St. ©Trustees of the British Museum Paulinus of Nola a little after 409. 50 ART MARKET MAGAZINE 51 The front is a depiction of the castles, something that is reflected at Resurrection of the Dead, a green- the base of the Holy Reliquary where a enameled mound rising from the base castle is made out of gold. (4) from which coffins protrude, the dead rising from within. Above is a rock- It is assumed that Jean de Berry gave crystal window, the thorn placed this reliquary as a highly important gift vertically in the center, mounted on a to someone prior to his death. All other cabochon sapphire, above an inscribed goldsmith pieces appear to have been scroll. Figures of the Virgin and St. John melted down following the occupation kneel beside the thorn, Christ with his of Paris by the English after the battle five wounds is seated behind it, his feet of Agincourt in 1415. By 1544 the resting on a white-enameled globe. Reliquary was part of the Imperial Two angels hold a crown of thorns Habsburg collection in Vienna where above his head, the instruments of the it remained until the late 19th century. Passion in their other hands. An arch is Here is where the story of what is formed around the whole by the twelve considered a “supreme achievement Apostles within a mass of leaves and of medieval European metalwork” branches, God the Father at the top. becomes fascinating for collectors, On the reverse are two hinged doors curators, and art scholars. The piece decorated in relief and pontillé with was exhibited in Vienna in 1860 as the figures of St. Michael and the Devil part of the Medieval and Renaissance and St. Christopher carrying the Christ works of art collection. Shortly after Child, inside there is an empty cavity this exhibition, the reliquary was sent covered in modern glass, probably a to be repaired or to be cleaned by the space for another relic. Above this is a workshop of a Mr. Salomon Weininger rounder with the face of Christ in relief in Vienna. The talented Mr. Weininger amidst sunrays. Marked.” (3) proceeded to make a copy of the reliquary. He copied other important he piece was made in France in pieces in the collection as well. He the late 14th century to early returned the copy to the Museum and T15th century. It measures: sold the original which found its way to Baron Anselm von Rothschild between • Height: 30.5 centimeters 1872 – 1874. (3) • Width: 15 centimeters (max) • Width: 13 centimeters There were, therefore, two almost (across base) identical Holy Reliquaries, one in • Depth: 7 centimeters Vienna and one with the Rothschild • Weight: 1404.65 grams Collection at Waddesdon Manor in England. It took almost a century after the exchange to figure out Jean de Berry was a very curious and conclusively that the piece in Vienna learned collector of art. This reliquary was a copy and the original was now in was housed at his Saint Chapelle along the possession of the British Museum, with many religious relics such as the as it became part of the collection marriage ring of the Virgin, a cup used after the bequeath of the Waddesdon at the Wedding at Cana, a fragment collection of Renaissance and Baroque of the Burning Bush and a complete art to the museum. body of one of the Holy Innocents, the children murdered by Herod. He was an enthusiastic builder of ©Trustees of the British Museum 52 ART MARKET MAGAZINE 53 he Holy Thorn Reliquary is a work of both ornate beauty SOURCES: Tand sublime significance. MEB3 The grandeur and intricacy of the late- (1) Itinera Hierosolymitana, Geyer. 154 and 174. medieval French goldsmith’s craft are Absorbing Art harnessed for the reverence of a single (2) Exuviae Constantinopolitanae (Paris, 1904). M. De Mely. By Miguel Bermudez buckthorn – believed by many to be from the Crown of Thorns placed on the (3) The British Museum Collection Notes. head of Jesus before the crucifixion.” (5) (4) A History of the World in 100 Objects. A joint program of the BBC and the British Museum. One theologian described it as (5) The Holy Thorn Reliquary, One of the Greatest “a window into another world.”. (5) Relics of Medieval Christianity. Sotheby’s Museum Network. September 21, 2018 A guide to an exhibit at the British Museum titled “Meeting the Gods (6) A Sleek Home at British Museum for Ferdinand's Gift. The New York Times. July 22, 2015. Roderick (1200-1400 AD) described in a profound Conway Morris. way what this incredible piece signifies: (7) Past Presents: New Year’s Gifts at the Valois “You never get to the end of the Holy Court, ca.1400”. Brigitte Buettner. Art Bulletin, 83 Thorn Reliquary. It's a theatre for the (2001), 598-625. cosmic drama of salvation. It's a sermon (8) "France: Kissing the original Crown of Thorns on high medieval theology. And you worn by Jesus | Minor Sights". could almost say it's a single-object www.minorsights.com. I have attended most major art and museum, even if an incomparably lavish Retrieved 2016-08-05. antiques shows in the United States one. There's one exhibit, mounted on and Europe including The New (9) Cherry, John, The Holy Thorn Reliquary, The York Winter Show at the Armory, sapphire, displayed behind rock crystal, British Museum Press, 2010, ISBN 9780714128207 The Chelsea Show in London, Le Biennale and labeled on enamel. But its purpose de Paris, The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) is the same as any museums- to provide in Maastricht and antiques shows in Zurich, a worthy setting for a great thing. We ©Trustees of the British Museum All images are ©Trustees of the British Museum and Vienna, Munich, Prague, Milan, Geneva and reproduced with their kind permission. can't, of course, know how visitors Basel. approach the objects on display in the I frequently participate in auctions in British Museum, but many visitors then to be skillfully reproduced in the London, Amsterdam, Vienna, Copenhagen, surely still use the Holy Thorn Reliquary 19th century. Interestingly enough, New York, San Francisco, Paris, Munich, for its original devotional purpose of the forger was apprehended and spent Berlin and Milan and have published contemplation and prayer.” (4) years in prison for his actions. This did academic articles and contributed research not prompt the Museum in Austria to Contact Miguel Bermudez to The Orders & Medals Research Society of Great Britain, The Vatican Secret Archives, “Certainly, the veneration of the Crown either make a serious attempt to locate http://meb3.com/ The Chancellery of the Order of the Thistle in the original nor did they fully disclosed of Thorns remains very much alive.
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