Italiano
The Holy Thorn Reliquary of Jean, duc de Berry
Paris, France, about AD 1400-10
This reliquary was made to house a
relic of the Crown of Thorns, the wreath of thorns placed on the
head of Jesus Christ at his crucifixion. The thorn is displayed
behind a crystal window and is identified by a Latin inscription:
'Ista est una spinea corone / Domine nostri ihesu cristi' ('This is
a thorn from the crown of Our Lord Jesus Christ').
The reliquary is a wonderful example of the art of émail en
ronde bosse. Pearls and rubies are arranged alternately around
the compartment which holds the relic. Two sapphires are
incorporated into the design: one at the apex and the other used as
a mount for the thorn itself.
A dramatic scene of the Last Judgement surrounds the relic,
featuring the Virgin Mary (to the left), St John the Baptist (to
the right) and Christ (centre). Around the outside are arranged
figures of the twelve Apostles with God the Father at the top. At
the bottom, four angels sound trumpets as the dead emerge from
their tombs.
Behind the figure of God is a gold relief of the Holy Face on
the cloth of St Veronica, a fragment of which may have been held in
the secondary compartment at the reverse. This is protected by two
gold doors decorated with reliefs of Saints Christopher and
Michael. The doors are delicately stippled, suggesting that they
too were once enamelled. A sensational story supports this
suggestion.
When the reliquary came to the British Museum in 1898, its full
history was unknown. However, it had been on loan from the
Geistliche Schatzkammer, Vienna to the 1860 Exhibition. After the
exhibition it was sent with four other items to the workshop of
Salomon Weininger for restoration. Weininger made fakes of each
item to take the place of the originals, which he sold. Only in
1959, when the fake reliquary was brought to London and compared
with the original, was the truth established. The fake reliquary
has enamelled doors on the reverse - a detail which a forger would
not invent - indicating that the original enamel must have been
lost or removed between 1860 and 1898, when it came to the British
Museum.
Who was the original owner of this outstanding object? Research
has indicated that the two enamelled plaques on the front of the
castellated base relate to Jean, duc de Berry (1340-1416). An
inventory dating from 1401-3 describing the possessions of the Duc
de Berry mentions a grand, imperial crown set with four Holy Thorns
which was broken up and its components re-used.
H. Tait, Catalogue of the Waddesdon Beq (London, The British Museum Press, 1986)