Ancient Christian Silver Reliquary Cross
Byzantine Era: Circa 10th – 11th century AD
(Period of the 1st – 3rd Crusades)
(56 x 22 mm – 2 3/16 x 7/8”, weight 16.92 gm)
Ancient Byzantine Reliquary Cross: By the 5th and 6th centuries, the Cross had replaced the Chi-Rho as the standard emblem of Christian religious devotion. Crosses were worn by individuals from every social stratum, from the elaborate bejeweled golden cross of the patriarch to the simple crosses of the common man. The word crusade, which is derived from the Latin crux (cross), is a reference to the biblical injunction that Christians carry their cross. Crusaders wore a red cross sewn on their tunics to indicate they had assumed the cross and were soldiers of Christ. Many also wore a pectoral cross around their neck.
This is a two part, hinged silver reliquary cross, which is complete and apparently unopened. This unusual cross portrays, on one side, Christ with arms extended, wearing a robe (colobium). On the other side the robed Christ has arms extended and hands raised (“orans”) in prayer. The reliquary was probably thought to contain a splinter of the True Cross. For other reliquary crosses, see the exhibition catalog “Kreuz und Kruzifix” (Diocese Museum of Friesing, Germany, 2005) – pgs 174-175. A virtually identical example in bronze is pictured in Pitirakis, "Les Croix-Reliquares Pectorales Byzantine", Paris, 2006, #162. Byzantine representations of the Crucifixion which show Christ wearing a robe are normally earlier than those in which he wears a loincloth.
Nice complete conditiion with hanging loop and with some devotional wear.
