Hand Reliquary
For many reasons, I was
probably not destined for the religious life. Not the least of these is that on
hearing of the passing of a pious and respected elder, my first response isn’t ‘Where
did I put that saw?’ However, there is a long tradition in Christianity of
chopping off bits of departed clerics to preserve as relics. And when it comes
to reliquaries, you’ve just got to hand it to this example!
The saintly bits and
bobs are long gone, but the reliquary itself survives in amazing condition,
even if it was originally intended to be a full arm, rather than just the hand.
It was made in the second half of the 13th century, possibly in Belgium. The
relics would have been visible through the little ‘windows’ on the fingers.
Initially, I thought that these were intended to simulate large, ornamental bezels
and stones of finger rings, but their hoops are not continued on the palm side
of the hand. This is in contrast to the delicate ring encircling the ring
finger at the first knuckle.
Every time I’ve visited
this piece I’ve been fascinated with the quality of its manufacture. However,
it has only recently struck me that – quite apart from its initial role as an
object of devotion – the original form of the piece (possibly with a further
window to observe the radius and ulna) would have doubled as and effective
memento mori, reminding the faithful that no matter how beautiful and adorned the
exterior, death comes for us all. By the same token, I find it interesting that
the sanctified contents are now long gone, but we still preserve and revere the
gorgeous casing … and maybe there is an insight into our true natures in that observation
too …
Nice observation.
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