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Casket St. Thomas Becket Limoges Chasse

Object number

LDSAL110

Production date

13th century

Production place

Limoges

Material

enamel
copper
lapis lazuli

Technique

champleve enamel

Dimensions

length: 210mm
Height: 155mm
Depth: 93mm

Location

On loan -

Content description

The front plate depicts the murder of Saint Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury by four assailants. On the slope of the roof the Saint's burial is depicted. The two pentagonal end-plates each bear a figure of an Apostle.

References

Reference (free text)

David Gaimster, Sarah McCarthy, and Bernard Nurse, eds., Making History, Antiquaries in Britain, 1707-2007 (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2007), pp. 76-7, no. 43.Illustration, p. 76.

Reference (free text)

Sicily: Culture and ConquestEdited by Dirk Booms and Peter HiggsBritish Museum p. 239-243ISBN 978-0-7141-2289-2

Reference (free text)

Tancred Borenius, St. Thomas Becket in Art, 1932, pp.88 et seq. and pl.XXXII, 2

Reference (free text)

Arch. lxxix, 49

Reference (controlled)

Sicily : Culture and Conquest (2016). [Exhibition]. British Museum. 21 April 2016 - 14 August 2016.
    Complete enamelled reliquary casket designed to hold remains of Saint Thomas Becket, dated to the thirteenth century.
    The copper casing of this reliquary casket decorated in champleve enamel comprises six plates. The casket is house-shaped with gabled roof, comprising two rectangular plates (front and back), two pentagonal end pieces and two rectangular sloping roof plates. On the front plate (depicting the murder of Saint Thomas by four assailants) the figures are reserved in a ground of lapis blue enamel with small coloured spots and rosettes of green, yellow, pale blue and red. The figures are in extreme flat relief, while their heads, shaped in matrices, are in normal low relief. The corresponding plates at the back of the casket are overspread with lines of multi-coloured rosettes. The two pentagonal end-plates each bear a figure of an Apostle reserved in enamelled ground. The champleve enamels, in addition to three shades of blue, are in deep red, green and yellow, typical of Limoges work of the thirteenth century. The casket has retained polish on the virtuous portions and the metal still retains most of its original gilding.