Description
This reliquary resembles a miniature Gothic church, complete with gargoyles. It is crowned by a figure of the Evangelist Luke, with his attribute, or symbol, the ox. A relic or small piece of a saint's body would have been contained in a rock crystal cylinder (now missing).
Relics were collected during the Middle Ages. They were often the most prized possessions of kings and noblemen and the beginning of many family collections. They continued to be collected in the 1600s.
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