RITRATTI D’ORO E D’ARGENTO. RELIQUIARI MEDIEVALI IN PIEMONTE E SAVOIA

A gallery of reliquary-busts from the fourteenth to the early sixteenth century, coming from all the provinces of Piemonte and depicting saints linked to the devotions of the area and the titles of local churches, as well as some specimens from Haute-Savoie and Switzerland.
Documented as early as the 11th century to contain the relic of the skull of certain saints, the busts are portrayed in goldsmithery, usually in copper or gilded silver, almost always richly decorated with precious stones or enamels: a production specifically from the medieval period, when according to some theologians, the contemplation of the image made with precious materials could lead the faithful towards a spiritual elevation.