Four small windows are cut into this wooden arm, and behind each, under glass, sits a fragment: a splinter of wood, a scrap of cloth, a twist of fiber, a chip of stone. A parchment label nailed to the shoulder identifies them as relics of Christ’s Passion, from the Cross, the sudarium or face cloth, the ropes that bound him and the column at which he was scourged. Red silk threads run between the windows and end beneath an intact disc of dark red wax. The threads and seal were intended to show whether the compartments had been opened.
Arm-shaped reliquaries have a long history. Churches kept saints’ arm bones in arms made of silver or gilded wood; at a feast, a priest could raise the reliquary to bless the congregation with the saint’s hand. Art historians call them “speaking reliquaries,” because the shape tells the viewer what lies inside. This Italian example, made in the seventeenth or eighteenth century, takes the form of a whole right arm bent at the elbow, with an open hand and patches of flesh-colored paint. Its label connects the four fragments with the events of the Passion.
The seal introduces a less expected institution: a charitable pawn bank. Around the Man of Sorrows, Christ rising from a sarcophagus with the cross behind him, runs the inscription SACRI MONTIS PIETATIS. It associates the seal with one of the Monti di Pietà, lending institutions established across Italy from the fifteenth century with Franciscan support. They allowed the poor to borrow against a pledge, and the Man of Sorrows served as their emblem. The town represented by this seal has not been identified.
For readers of the magical tradition, the importance given to contact will be familiar. In relic devotion, a small fragment could bear the sacred significance of the person or object to which it was attributed. A coffin nail or a thread from a shroud had a comparable place in some charms, where an object’s associations mattered to its intended use. The instruments of the Passion also circulated as the Arma Christi, painted or written images used for protection against harm.
The arm is about a foot long, with a dowel hole at the shoulder where it was attached to a base or figure. Brass bezels hold the four pieces of glass; behind them the fragments sit on paper roundels surrounded by hemp cord. Much of the paint and gesso has been lost, but the parchment label remains nailed to the shoulder, the glass is intact, and the seal and every connecting thread remain unbroken.
RELIQUARY ARM WITH FOUR RELICS OF THE PASSION. Italy, seventeenth or eighteenth century. Carved and painted wood, brass, glass, hemp, parchment, red wax and red silk thread. The parchment authentic reads: Reliquias Passionis Domini Nostri Jesu Christi ex Ligno Crucis ex Sudario ex Funibus ex Columna. L.S.
Physical Description: A right arm carved in the round, bent at the elbow, the hand open with fingers extended; about 12 inches (30 cm) long, with a dowel hole in the shoulder end. Four oval apertures on the outer face, each fitted with a brass bezel and glass, packed with hemp cord, containing respectively two crossed wood splinters, a fragment of woven textile, a knot of fibers and a chip of dark stone, each mounted on a paper roundel. Parchment authentic tacked to the shoulder end with three small nails, inscribed in brown ink with decorative crosses. Red silk threads laced between the apertures and secured under a red wax seal, round, impressed with the Man of Sorrows rising from the tomb before the cross, the legend SACRI MONTIS PIETATIS ... E PRESID[...] (the seal of a Sacro Monte di Pietà, the town's name worn).
Condition: Heavily worn. Most of the original paint and gesso is gone, with the surface abraded and flaking across the whole arm; losses to the wood at the elbow and around the apertures, and a small hole through the wood between the first and second windows. Brass bezels tarnished; glass intact. Parchment label chipped at the edges with small losses. The wax seal is complete and unbroken and all threads are intact. Not restored.
Four small windows are cut into this wooden arm, and behind each, under glass, sits a fragment: a splinter of wood, a scrap of cloth, a twist of fiber, a chip of stone. A parchment label nailed to the shoulder identifies them as relics of Christ’s Passion, from the Cross, the sudarium or face cloth, the ropes that bound him and the column at which he was scourged. Red silk threads run between the windows and end beneath an intact disc of dark red wax. The threads and seal were intended to show whether the compartments had been opened.
Arm-shaped reliquaries have a long history. Churches kept saints’ arm bones in arms made of silver or gilded wood; at a feast, a priest could raise the reliquary to bless the congregation with the saint’s hand. Art historians call them “speaking reliquaries,” because the shape tells the viewer what lies inside. This Italian example, made in the seventeenth or eighteenth century, takes the form of a whole right arm bent at the elbow, with an open hand and patches of flesh-colored paint. Its label connects the four fragments with the events of the Passion.
The seal introduces a less expected institution: a charitable pawn bank. Around the Man of Sorrows, Christ rising from a sarcophagus with the cross behind him, runs the inscription SACRI MONTIS PIETATIS. It associates the seal with one of the Monti di Pietà, lending institutions established across Italy from the fifteenth century with Franciscan support. They allowed the poor to borrow against a pledge, and the Man of Sorrows served as their emblem. The town represented by this seal has not been identified.
For readers of the magical tradition, the importance given to contact will be familiar. In relic devotion, a small fragment could bear the sacred significance of the person or object to which it was attributed. A coffin nail or a thread from a shroud had a comparable place in some charms, where an object’s associations mattered to its intended use. The instruments of the Passion also circulated as the Arma Christi, painted or written images used for protection against harm.
The arm is about a foot long, with a dowel hole at the shoulder where it was attached to a base or figure. Brass bezels hold the four pieces of glass; behind them the fragments sit on paper roundels surrounded by hemp cord. Much of the paint and gesso has been lost, but the parchment label remains nailed to the shoulder, the glass is intact, and the seal and every connecting thread remain unbroken.
RELIQUARY ARM WITH FOUR RELICS OF THE PASSION. Italy, seventeenth or eighteenth century. Carved and painted wood, brass, glass, hemp, parchment, red wax and red silk thread. The parchment authentic reads: Reliquias Passionis Domini Nostri Jesu Christi ex Ligno Crucis ex Sudario ex Funibus ex Columna. L.S.
Physical Description: A right arm carved in the round, bent at the elbow, the hand open with fingers extended; about 12 inches (30 cm) long, with a dowel hole in the shoulder end. Four oval apertures on the outer face, each fitted with a brass bezel and glass, packed with hemp cord, containing respectively two crossed wood splinters, a fragment of woven textile, a knot of fibers and a chip of dark stone, each mounted on a paper roundel. Parchment authentic tacked to the shoulder end with three small nails, inscribed in brown ink with decorative crosses. Red silk threads laced between the apertures and secured under a red wax seal, round, impressed with the Man of Sorrows rising from the tomb before the cross, the legend SACRI MONTIS PIETATIS ... E PRESID[...] (the seal of a Sacro Monte di Pietà, the town's name worn).
Condition: Heavily worn. Most of the original paint and gesso is gone, with the surface abraded and flaking across the whole arm; losses to the wood at the elbow and around the apertures, and a small hole through the wood between the first and second windows. Brass bezels tarnished; glass intact. Parchment label chipped at the edges with small losses. The wax seal is complete and unbroken and all threads are intact. Not restored.
