Reliquary chest
Author: Unknown
Date: 13th – 14th century
Material: Gilt silver
Dimensions (cm): H 9,5 x L 19,5 x D 10
Provenance: Guimarães, Colegiada de Nossa Senhora da Oliveira
Inventory No.: MAS O 37
Considered a national treasure, this reliquary-chest is made of embossed and punched silver and it has a rectangular base as well as a cover with four faces. The reliquary is decorated with a pearled border and the entire decoration is, from an iconographic point of view, a glorification of the cult of Our Lady who is represented as the Mother of Jesus Christ, both accompanied by Child Jesus, and crying during the Calvary or even in Majesty, already as the Queen of Heaven.
Initially serving as a reliquary to be taken on processions inside and outside the church, it housed the relic of Saint Torcato between 1662 and 1664, and finally, after the second half of the 17th century, as a Eucharistic repository in the ceremonies of the entombment of the Lord.
It was a medieval habit to keep the relics in closed caskets. From the Council of Trent on (1545 – 1563), they were exposed to the eyes of the faithful, usually protected by glass structures.