stone, silver and bronze reliquary, Naples, first half 18th century and later; with original fitted case.

Reliquary decorated with a silver bas-relief depicting the Nativity, inset with a glazed medallion revealing some relics of the holy crib, with a label reading 'the sacred birthplace of our Lord Jesus Christ' in Latin. The bronze frame, stem and stand of gilt bronze with volutes and framed panels of Corsican green jasper, the cherub's head, the two adjacent framed stone (grey agate) elements, and the silver festoons garlands are later additions ; its original leather case gilt-tooled with the arms of Cavaliere Agostino Rem-Picci.

The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Provenance: Alberto di Castro, Rome, 1976.


Form

The form of this reliquary is based upon contemporary designs of monstrances, which were used to display the Host to the congregation during mass. It clearly reflects the intention of an object that is equally magnificent when seen from a distance as from close-up: A silver relief of the Nativity serves as illustration to the nature of the relic, and can only be appreciated from nearby, whereas the sparkling silver and gold would be visible from far away.

Style

The design of this reliquary is in the manner of Orazio Scoppa. In 1642-1643 Scoppa published a series of eighteen designs for silver objects which he dedicated to Melchiorre Borgia. One of these prints shows a monstrance with comparable overall form and figurative decoration of heads of cherubs and garlands of flowers. Joseph Strutt described Scoppa's work as "in a very spirited style" in the second volume of his Biographical Dictionary of Engravers from 1786 (p. 313).

The two framed agate panels, the silver cherub head and silver festoons are most probably later addition. For a comparable example, also with later embellishments, see Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, (Schatzkammer, GS Kap 51).


Cavaliere Agosto Rem-Picci has published in 1844 a series of engravings entitled 'Monumenti e ruderi antichi che veggonsi lungo i lati delle prime due miglia della Via Appia' [Monuments and ruins that can be seen along the sides of the first two miles of the Via Appia], based on life drawings by the artist Carlo Labruzzi (1748-1817). Rem-Picci's portrait, dated 1868, is in the Church Santa Maria Maddalena, piazza della Maddalena, 53, in Rome.

This fine Baroque reliquary is testimony to the Catholic cult of relics in 17th and 18th-century Italy. The most precious materials, Corsican jasper, gilt-bronze and silver were used to create a magnificent repository for a sacred object which is only partly visible behind a glass screen. The handwritten inscription identifies the wooden fragment in this reliquary as a piece from the crib of Christ. Another example of presumed relics from the manger in which the Infant Christ was laid after his birth are five fragments of wood preserved at Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.


Sir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world's great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.

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