Window locket; 18th Century

Window reliquary; 18th century.
Silver in its colour, glass painted with tempera and paper.
In good state of preservation.
Measurements: 9,5 x 6 x 1,5 cm.
Window reliquary with a print of the coronation of the Virgin Mary on the front and Saint Martyr painted on glass on the back. The piece, which can be used as a pendant, has a silver structure that serves as a base and frame for the two devotional images that make up the design of the reliquary. The silverwork is of great ornamental value, which is evident in the delicate filigree that surrounds the perimeter of the oval frame and in the openwork details that follow one after the other rhythmically on the outside of the frame. These three-dimensional ornaments represent synthesised vegetal elements worked in detail on the front. The rear area, designed as a medallion, shows the image, painted in tempera, of a saint holding a crucifix in a pious pose.
Reliquaries of this type were very common from the Gothic period onwards, used to contain relics of saints. It should be remembered, however, that at that time virtually anything that had been in contact with the saint or his mortal remains (cloths, burial soil, etc.) was considered a holy relic. The best examples were made of precious metals.