2-888-468 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Silver-Gilt Shrine, 1850. Item from an 'Exhibition of Ancient and Mediaeval Art at the Society of Arts, in John-street, Adelphi', [London]. Shrines or caskets such as this were made to hold the relics of Saints, and were often set with precious stones. This example is '... of the fifteenth century [and] is from the collection of Mr. Magniac. It is of silver gilt, relieved - having figures of Christ and the Apostles placed round it, in canopied niches - and derives a striking effect from the pinnacled buttresses placed at its angles. Although its history is involved in obscurity, the simplicity and elegance of its design attract immediate attention, in preference to those more elaborately-enriched reliquaries of which there are several in the Exhibition, from the Cathedral of Basle and elsewhere'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.