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: This reliquary was constructed in the same manner as the previous. The middle compartment contains the relics of male saints and is flanked by ronde bosse enamel figures of the twelve apostles. Starting from the right from top to bottom: James the elder and Paul; Matthias (?) and Peter, Thomas and Philip, Bartholomew (?) and Andrew, Judas Thaddeus and Simon, John and Matthew. In the two niches in the pediment stand the Virgin on a crescent moon, as the Queen of Heaven, and the triumphant Saviour. The ensemble of precious stones and ronde bosse enamel points to the workshops of the royal court in Prague. Ottavio Miseroni, a member of the Miseroni family of Milan, polishers and engravers of precious stones, was active in Prague in the court of Rudolph II around 1588. The Viennese Schatzkammer reliquaries, products of the Miseroni workshops of Milan and Prague, are close analogies to these altars.