Le chef reliquaire de Saint-Yrieix

Le chef reliquaire de Saint-Yrieix

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La copie est à St-Yrieix (j'ai pris les photos à l'Eglise de St-Yrieix. Le chef reliquaire est situé sur un socle que l'on peut faire tourner de 360°), l'original est à New-York !


L'original au Metropolitan Museum de New-York

" Siècle : 1ère moitié 13e siècle
Historique : Chef-reliquaire réalisé entre 1220 et 1240 probablement dans un atelier limousin. Les conditions dans lesquelles la pièce originale sortit de la commune de Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche ne sont pas connues très précisément : l'original fut acheté par Pierpont-Morgan en 1906, par l'intermèdiaire du marchand anglais Duveen ; ce dernier fit faire une copie dà Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche. En 1917, le buste original passa dans les collections du Metropolitan Museum of Arts (donation Pierpont-Morgan) où il est actuellement conservé, section médièvale, inv. n°17 190 35 Zè "
Source

Photo du Metropolitan Museum (c) Metropolitan museum
L'original est au Metropolitan Museum de New-York !
" Reliquary Bust of Saint YrieixGilded silver, rock crystal, gems, and glass, originally over walnut core with silver leaf and gesso on the interior.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.190.352)
Reliquary Bust of Saint Yrieix
France, Limousin, second quarter of the 13th century
Church of Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche
Gilded silver, rock crystal, gems, and glass, originally over walnut core with silver leaf and gesso on the interior.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.190.352) "

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En 2006-07, une exposition du MET met en lumière ce reliquaire.

"The exhibition will conclude with a grouping of a dozen objects of devotion, including head reliquaries, in which the head – separate from the body – is venerated as part of a cult of a saint. Noteworthy is the rare and beautiful 13th-century silver Reliquary Head of St. Yrieix, which is ornamented with cabochon stones (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). This work will be displayed beside an identical head sculpted of wood – never intended to be seen – that cradled the skull of the saint and served as the core for the silver repoussé reliquary.

The exhibition is organized by Charles T. Little, Curator, in the Metropolitan Museum's Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, and is planned in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of The International Center of Medieval Art, which is headquartered at The Cloisters." Exhibition on the Face in Medieval Sculpture Opens at Metropolitan Museum in September

* Exhibition Dates: September 26, 2006 – February 18, 2007
* Exhibition Location: The Robert Lehman Wing