Reliquary Bust in the Form of a Young Woman, Possibly Saint Ursula
DateSecond half of the 15th Century
MediumGilded copper and semi-precious stones
Dimensions15 3/4 x 14 15/16 x 8 1/2 in. (40 x 37.9 x 21.6 cm)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936
Object numberSN1099
Reliquary busts were made as containers for sacred relics, and in this example from the Lowlands or France, the face would have been originally painted in tempera in pale flesh tones over a foundation layer of green. The bust is made from three plates of repoussé metal with the third plate shaped to form the shape of the head and hinged to open to the interior (for the relics). The open foliate fillet around the brow is set with colored glass in imitation of precious stones, and the center heart-shaped stone at the breast is a cabochon of hollowed-out rose quartz which once contained a small relic.
On View
Not on view
early 20th century
early 20th century
Empress Elizabeth Amalie Eugenie
Case: late sixteenth or early seventeenth century; Wax: late sixteenth century
