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Source Description
With intricate carvings and lavish gilding, this frame holds 17 labeled relics, mostly bodily remains or belongings of saints, worshiped for their spiritual significance. The frame once contained a gilded glass image of the Virgin Mary and Christ child. A Latin inscription around the base likely refers to Mino Cinughi, rector (administrator) of the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala in Siena during 1340–51, which cared for pilgrims on the way to Rome. <br>Believers sought healing in medieval hospitals through the veneration of relics hoping to elicit miracles from the saints. While this object probably resided on an altar, the ornamentation on both sides suggests it was also carried in processions.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
149363
label
Frame for a Portable Reliquary Icon
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
149363
contentType
object
title
Frame for a Portable Reliquary Icon
description
With intricate carvings and lavish gilding, this frame holds 17 labeled relics, mostly bodily remains or belongings of saints, worshiped for their spiritual significance. The frame once contained a gilded glass image of the Virgin Mary and Christ child. A Latin inscription around the base likely refers to Mino Cinughi, rector (administrator) of the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala in Siena during 1340–51, which cared for pilgrims on the way to Rome. <br>Believers sought healing in medieval hospitals through the veneration of relics hoping to elicit miracles from the saints. While this object probably resided on an altar, the ornamentation on both sides suggests it was also carried in processions.
date
1347
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60781289
genreSpecific
Glass
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 66.7 x 51.3 x 25.3 cm (26 1/4 x 20 3/16 x 9 15/16 in.)
cul
Italy, Siena
accession
1978.26
Source extras
tec
gilded wood, modeled gesso, verre églomisé, glass cabochons, and relics
tombstone
Frame for a Portable Reliquary Icon, 1347. Italy, Siena. Gilded wood, modeled gesso, verre églomisé, glass cabochons, and relics; overall: 66.7 x 51.3 x 25.3 cm (26 1/4 x 20 3/16 x 9 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Ruth Blumka in memory of Leopold Blumka, 1978.26
collection
MED - Gothic
inscriptions
inscription
an inscription with a stipled background runs around the lowest edge of the upright part of the frame: obverse: HOC/OPUS : FACTUM . FUIT . SUB . ANNO . DO/MINI; reverse: [small loss] /CCC . XLVII . TEMPORE . DOMINI . MINI/CINI. [This/work : has . been . made . under . year . of . the . Lord [small loss] /300 47 . in . the . time . of the Lord . Mini/Cini.] Another inscription appears on the obverse and reverse of the base: LUCAS ME FECIT. [Luke has made me.]
citations
citation
Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1978.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 66, no. 1 (January 1979): 3–48.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 12; Mentioned: p. 42, no. 24
citation
Wixom, William D. “Eleven Additions to the Medieval Collection.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 66, no. 3 (Mar/Apr 1979): 87–151.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 128-132, figs. 83-85
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein<em>. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: P. 264-265, no. 99
citation
Bagnoli, Martina. <em>Treasures of heaven: saints, relics, and devotion in medieval Europe</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2010.
page_number
Reproduced: cat. no. 117, p. 202 - 203
citation
Migdal, Anna Maria. <em>Regina Cœli: les images mariales et le culte des reliques : entre Orient et Occident au Moyen Âge</em>. Turnhout: Brepols, 2017. p. 196, 252, 324.
page_number
: p. 324, fig. 79 Mentioned: p. 196, 252Reproduced
citation
Zchomelidse, Nino. "Liminal Phenomena: Framing Medieval Cult Images with Relics and Words." <em>Viator</em>. 47, no. 3 (2016): 243-296.
page_number
Reproduced p. 289, fig. 20; Mentioned p. 264
citation
Silver, Nathaniel E. and Alexa Beller. <em>Fra Angelico: Heaven on </em>Earth. Boston; London: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; Paul Holberton Publishing, 2018.
page_number
Mentioned: p,. 43; Reproduced: p. 44
citation
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2020) "Painting under glass" Accessed: 2021-02-13 21:25:42.
page_number
M.56 & A-1904
citation
Campbell, Caroline, Stephan Wolohojian, Imogen Tedbury, Christa Gardner von Teuffel, Donal Cooper, Andrea De Marchi, Emma Capron, et al. Siena : The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350. Edited by Joanna Cannon. London: National Gallery Global, 2024.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 185; reproduced: p. 184 and 186, fig, 136
creditline
Gift of Ruth Blumka in memory of Leopold Blumka
galleryDonorText
Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Horvitz Gallery
updatedAt
2026-06-10 19:45:10.290000
sourceId
149363
dept
Medieval Art
coll
MED - Gothic
med
gilded wood, modeled gesso, verre églomisé, glass cabochons, and relics
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
b842fae1f7d62714