The present lot in its original leather case is an incredibly rare survival from the fifteenth century. The case, in two halves, with five pairs of holes down either side indicates how it would have originally been fastened, likely with a leather strap belted or knotted together. It gives us an insight into how reliquaries such as these, most of which do not survive with their cases, would have been kept covered and thus taking it out of the case to reveal the contents was likely a ritualistic process. Additionally, a reliquary of this size could have travelled with its owner and thus the case served to protect its contents as well as to conceal them.
In addition to stylistic analysis of the piece, the fact that two of the three remaining inscriptions are in French (the third is in the same hand but in Latin) point towards its manufacture in a French-speaking region during the 15th century. The figures associated with each relic, thus saints important to the reliquary’s original owner, give us further indication of a more precise location of creation for the piece. Mary Magdalen’s veneration was wide-ranging in the period, however, examples of locations housing her relics were rare. It has been noted that she was particularly venerated by the Burgundian nobility and was nominally connected to Mary of Burgundy who is known to have styled herself as the saint. Another of the inscriptions refers to the Eleven Thousand Virgin Martyrs. These women were said to have been followers of Saint Ursula who were massacred in Cologne whilst on a pilgrimage through Europe. In the fifteenth century the story was very popular and relics of the martyrs were more common, particularly in Cologne but also in Bruges.
Prior to the Reformation, members of the aristocracy and clergy alike were active collectors of relics which could be used for both private devotion or liturgical purposes. The most important relics traditionally belonged to the church and worshippers were able to see them and touch them, often for a fee, believing them to have curative properties. The pieces were housed in increasingly elaborate and costly ways, reflecting but also demonstrating their immense spiritual value.
A comparable leather case, described as from France in the fifteenth century, is housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession number 24.135.2.