altar; reliquary; relic; miniature

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altar; reliquary; relic; miniature

Object Type: altar; reliquary; relic; miniature
Museum number: 1902,0625.1
Description: Portable altar; red stone probably a shelly limestone; mounted in gilt-copper, engraved with symbols of the Evangelists and figures of St Peter, St Andrew, St Stephen and St Lawrence, with two walrus ivory carvings of the Crucifixion and Virgin and Child; also two miniatures painted on vellum of St Godehard and St Bernard, both Bishops of Hildesheim, under rock crystal; inscribed with name of donor and names of the numerous saints whose relics have been found in a cavity beneath the stone.
Cultures/periods
Production date: 1190-1200
Production place: Made in: Lower Saxony (state) (?); Made in: Koblenz (Rhineland Palatinate) (?)
Materials: limestone (?); copper; ivory; gold; rock crystal; human bone (?); hair
Technique: gilded; painted; engraved; carved
Dimensions: Length: 354 millimetres; Width: 251 millimetres
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: Olwen Williams-Thorpe examined this in October 1995 and considered that the stone was not Imperial porphyry but a sedimentary shelly limestone, see letter from her to John Cherry dated 30.10.95.[jc 1.7.1996].
Bibliographic references: Dalton 1909 / Catalogue of the Ivory Carvings of the Christian Era with Examples of Mohammedan Art and Carvings in Bone in the Department of British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography of the British Museum (69); Bagnoli, Klein, Mann & Robinson 2011 / Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe (66); Robinson 2008 / Masterpieces of Medieval Art (p. 69); Hahnloser and Brugger-Koch 1985 / Corpus der Hartsteinschliffe des 12.-15. Jahrhunderts (5); Robinson et al 2014 / Matter of Faith: An Interdisciplinary Study of Relics and Relic Veneration in the Medieval Period (p.100, pl.1)
Location: On display (G40/dc4)
Exhibition history: Exhibited: 2011 23 June-9 Oct, London, BM, 'Treasures of Heaven' 2011 13 Feb-8 May, Baltimore, Walters Museum of Art, 'Treasures of Heaven' 2010-2011 17 Oct-6 Jan, Ohio, Cleveland Museum of Art, 'Treasures of Heaven' 2006-2007 23 Sept-7 Jan, Sheffield, Millennium Galleries, 'Art at the Rockface' 2006 22 May-3 Sept, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, 'Art at the Rockface' 1988 15 Jul-20 Nov, Germany, Hildesheim, Diözesan Museum, Der Schatz von St Godehard
Subjects: christian cleric; bird; mammal; saint/martyr; crucifixion; angel; virgin and child
Associated names: Emblem of: St Matthew; Emblem of: St Mark; Emblem of: St Luke; Emblem of: St John the Evangelist; Representation of: St Peter; Representation of: St Andrew; Representation of: St Stephen; Representation of: St Laurence; Representation of: Virgin Mary; Representation of: Jesus Christ; Representation of: St Godehard; Representation of: St Bernward, Bishop of Hildesheim; Named in inscription: Abbot Theodoric III
Acquisition name
Previous owner: Previous owner/ex-collection: Conte C W de Renesse-Briedbach; Previous owner/ex-collection: Sellières; Previous owner/ex-collection: Thomas David Gibson Carmichael, 1st Baron Carmichael; Previous owner/ex-collection: Prince Pierre Soltykoff
Acquisition date: 1902
Department: Britain, Europe and Prehistory
Registration number: 1902,0625.1
Conservation: Treatment; Treatment: 02 Dec 1982; Treatment: 20 Aug 1980; Treatment: 14 May 2008; Treatment: 21 Dec 2007; Treatment: 14 Sep 2012; Treatment: 14 Sep 2012; Treatment: 14 Sep 2012; Treatment: 28 Apr 2006

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