Skip to main content

German silver and rock crystal reliquary

Image attached to MAR.M.55 & A-1912

An image of Reliquary. Unknown silversmith, Germany. The rock crystal body, baluster stem, slightly domed foot and domed cover are all hexagonal and slightly wider than deep. The cover has an attached baluster finial. The reliquary and cover are mounted with borders of silver-gilt with pierced and cast scroll decoration. A putti head is engraved on one side of the tube, and scrolls are engraved on the underside of the base to cover flaws in the rock crystal. The knop on the stem is engraved with a band of roundels. The mounts are decorated with engraved borders. Six bands, each pierced with two crosses, extend from the rim mount one third of the way down the sides, and between these are cast scrolls. Similar cast scrolls decorate the mounts on the foot and round the finial. Silver-gilt and rock crystal. Height, overall, 29.2 cm, width, base, 11.5 cm, depth, base, 8.5 cm, circa 1550-circa 1650. Notes: The silver-gilt is not marked, but was probably made in Germany, possibly Freiburg-Breisgau.

Terms of use

These images are provided for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons License (BY-NC-ND). To license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who will discuss fees, terms and waivers.

Download this image

Creative commons explained - what it means, how you can use our's and other people's content.

About this image

Reliquary. Unknown silversmith, Germany. The rock crystal body, baluster stem, slightly domed foot and domed cover are all hexagonal and slightly wider than deep. The cover has an attached baluster finial. The reliquary and cover are mounted with borders of silver-gilt with pierced and cast scroll decoration. A putti head is engraved on one side of the tube, and scrolls are engraved on the underside of the base to cover flaws in the rock crystal. The knop on the stem is engraved with a band of roundels. The mounts are decorated with engraved borders. Six bands, each pierced with two crosses, extend from the rim mount one third of the way down the sides, and between these are cast scrolls. Similar cast scrolls decorate the mounts on the foot and round the finial. Silver-gilt and rock crystal. Height, overall, 29.2 cm, width, base, 11.5 cm, depth, base, 8.5 cm, circa 1550-circa 1650. Notes: The silver-gilt is not marked, but was probably made in Germany, possibly Freiburg-Breisgau.

Image data

  • Accession Number: MAR.M.55 & A-1912
  • Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
  • Aperture: f/22.0
  • Focal length: 100
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D
  • Photographer name: Michael Jones
  • Image height: 981 pixels
  • Image width: 514 pixels
  • Processed with: Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)
  • Filesize: 351.11kB
  • Exposure time: 1/100
  • ISO Speed: 100
  • Fnumber: 22/1
  • Captured: 2008:11:07 15:34:05

Key words

16th Century 17th Century cast church plate cover crystal domed domes ecclesiastical engraved engraving finial Fitz_AA German gold knop pierced putti putto religion religious reliquary rock crystal scrolls Silver silver-gilt silverware stem

Colours in this image

rgb(186,183,174), rgb(127,125,118), rgb(30,35,33), rgb(153,158,159), rgb(87,83,76), rgb(146,147,156), rgb(99,101,98), rgb(185,145,61), rgb(67,68,64), rgb(165,116,42), rgb(91,91,100)

Citation for print

This page can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "German silver and rock crystal reliquary" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/image/media-2558730763 Accessed: 2024-11-25 06:20:35

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this page on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/image/media-2558730763 |title=German silver and rock crystal reliquary |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-25 06:20:35|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/images/media-207004

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:

<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa37/MAR_M_55_20_26_20A_1912_200811_mfj22_dc2.jpg"
        alt="Reliquary"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">German silver and rock crystal reliquary</figcaption>
    </figure>
</div>
    

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...