MEDIEVAL RELIQUARY CROSS

1400

Description: An incomplete hollow gold cross pendant, perhaps used as a miniature reliquary, of medieval date (c. 15th century AD).The pendant is in the shape of a Maltese cross, with a concave curve at the end of each of the four flaring arms. The front of the pendant bears a black-letter inscription reading 'de cuer' (probably meaning 'from the heart', an amatory rather than a religious inscription). Each arm is filled with an engraved floral spray, consisting of a stem with foliage ending in a pair of engraved five-petalled flowers. The top and bottom arms have a longer stem and more leaves, but most of the side arms are filled with the inscription and so have shorter stems and less foliage. The inscription has a small cross filled with white enamel in front of it.The suspension loop has been made from a rectangular strip of gold. A circular-sectioned ring or loop is present in the suspension loop. A butt joint has been used to secure the ends of the circular wire together.The reverse of the cross is hollow, and the backplate is missing. Multiple scratch and file marks are present in the base of the recess. Two opposing triangular slots are present on the top and bottom arms on the reverse, probably to hold the missing backplate in position. The pendant is mid yellow colour, with an even surface patina.Dimensions: Length: 22.5 mm, Width: 19.5 mm, Thickness: 2.3 mm, Weight: 3.2 g. The sides of the cross are 0.8 mm thick and the recess is 1.4 mm deep. The external diameter of the ring is 7.9 mm, and it has a diameter of 1.3 mm.Discussion: Several other hollow crosses, all perhaps originally reliquaries, have been recorded on the PAS database (SF-C86BF6, LIN-75FD54, SUR-315095, DEV-4EAD04, WMID-1006A0 and SUR-7D27D6), although none are a close parallel. The black-letter inscription dates this one, as most, to the 15th century AD.