Art Institute of Chicago

Reliquary Casket

French; Limoges

Date

c. 1200

Medium

Gilt copper, champlevé enamel over wood core

Culture

Limoges

Department

Applied Arts of Europe

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This reliquary casket, with its vibrantly colored enamel fields, is typical of the objects created at the prolific workshops in and around Limoges, France, in the Middle Ages. By the end of the 12th century, opus lemovicense (Limoges work) had gained an international reputation, and documentary sources indicate that ornamentation with enamel was considered as precious as that with gemstones. Six figures of saints appear on the front panels of the casket, while a single saint is shown standing on each end panel. This decidedly nonspecific iconography would have made the casket appropriate for any number of churches and allowed it to house the relics of virtually any saint.

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