Silver case for the “Enamelled Cross”

Photogallery

Silver case for the “Enamelled Cross”
Silver case for the “Enamelled Cross”
Chapel of St. Peter Martyr

This precious silver reliquary – originating, like the previous items, from the Chapel of the Sancta Sanctorum in the Lateran Palace – also belongs to the group of artefacts commissioned in the Carolingian period for the most precious relics held in the “Treasury”. This capsella, in particular (decorated, like the previous item, with lively figures in relief), was intended to store the crux de smalto depicta, et infra quam est crux Domini nostri Iesu Christi, mentioned by documentary sources. On the front surface of the lid Christ is depicted in maestà, frontally, between the apostles Peter and Paul, while the side walls of the box there are repetitions of themes present in large numbers on the main surface of the reliquary. Comparing the style and technique of the reliefs with those found on the case for the “jewelled cross”, explicitly dated to the pontificate of Paschal I (817-824), it is possible to assign the production of the item to a Roman laboratory working by commission for the same Roman Pontiff.