Made in around 1510, this reliquary is built entirely of gold, coloured with vibrant enamels and further enriched with the addition of two emeralds, three rubies and a diamond. Originally designed to house the relic from Christ’s Crown of Thorns, it later had a small cross added to it, in which the relic of the Holy Cross is kept.

What makes this piece exceptional is its singular form, displaying the taste for Antiquity: a direct reflection of the attempts made to recover the ancient classical orders during the Italian Renaissance.