Reliquary for a Finger Bone

Description Three angels elevate the hollow glass cylinder of this reliquary, a type of dramatic "display" reliquary that became popular in the late Middle Ages. Inside is the relic of an unknown saint, a small fragment of a bone, possibly from a finger, wrapped in a piece of cloth.

Exhibitions

• Reliquaries and Ritual: Medieval Objects of Devotion. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1984-1985.

Provenance Michel Boy, Paris, by purchase; Sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, May 15, 1905, no. 661; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1905, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1905