Arm Reliquary of the Apostles (c. 1190): Art, History and Details

Arm Reliquary of the Apostles (c. 1190) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Taking the form of a clothed lower arm with an outstretched hand, this reliquary from the Guelph Treasure appropriately enshrines a piece of an unidentified saint’s arm bone. Arm reliquaries like this one served as liturgical props; during religious services and processions, the clergy used them to bless and touch the faithful, thus making the presence of the saint more palpable and immediate. The apostle busts that decorate this arm reliquary seem to indicate that the relic it contains is that of an apostle. Duke Henry the Lion, a major patron of the church of Saint Blaise, is known to have received such relics from the Byzantine emperor Manuel I (1143-1180) upon his return from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Object facts

• Title: Arm Reliquary of the Apostles
• Date: c. 1190
• Culture: Germany, Lower Saxony, Hildesheim, Romanesque period, late 12th century
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: gilt silver, champlevé enamel, oak
• Dimensions: Overall: 51 x 14 x 9.2 cm (20 1/16 x 5 1/2 x 3 5/8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Romanesque
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1930.739

A detail from the museum

Reliquaries were prized not for the opulence that you see, but for the items that they held. They enshrined items associated with saints, like a piece of clothing they wore or a small portion of their remains. In this case, an arm bone is encased within.

Collection credit

Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust

Further reading listed by the museum

• Neumann, Wilhelm Anton, and Wenzel August Neumann. Der Reliquienschatz des Hauses Braundschweig-Lüneburg. Wien: Alfred Hölder, 1891.
• Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut Frankfurt am Main. Stadel-Jahrbuch. Munchen: Prestel Verlag, 1921.
• Bossert, Helmuth Theodor. Geschichte des Kunstgewerbes aller Zeiten und Völker, in Verbindung mit zahlreichen Fachgelehrten herausgegeben von Dr. H. Th. Bossert. Berlin: E. Wasmuth, a.g, 1928.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.