Reliquary altar

Created: Prague, ca. 1620, with 18th-century base

Material, technology: ebony, gold, ronde bosse and embedded enamel, pearl, agate, bloodstone, jasper, chalcedony

Size: h.: (without base) 45 cm

Description: Made of ebony, the reliquary contains the relics of female saints in the semi-circular compartment of the protruding middle section as well as in the compartment of the predella. Ronde bosse enamelled gold statues stand in the niches of the pediment and the two portions of the middle section flanking the reliquary compartment. Divided into three levels by shelves, the two sides house the statues of 12 female saints. On the left: Agnes and Barbara, Cecilia and Catherine, Catherine of Siena and Mary Magdalene. On the right: Mary of Egypt and Clara, Euphemia(?) and Elizabeth, Dorothy and Helena. The Madonna and child standing on a crescent moon occupy one of the arched niches of the pediment while St Anna with the Madonna and child occupies the other. The Habsburg coat of arms is found on the protruding part of the predella. The four quarters of the coat of arms on the tympanum contain the Czech lion and the shield of the Árpáds with its four strips on a white background. On the central shield one can see the Austrian and Styrian fesse. The coat of arms with the Austrian and Styrian fesses was used by the Holy Roman Emperors from the first tenth of the 17th century, and suggest that the two reliquaries were most likely commissioned by the court. These reliquaries are probably those listed in the inventory of the imperial treasury of 1758.