Day 194 - Reliquary pendant


October 4, 2019

Gallery 535 is reached by a stairwell leading up from the Velez Blanco patio and is devoted to the decorative arts of Spain between 1450 and 1700. The objects on display reveal the indebtedness of Spanish art and artisans to the Islamic world, Italy, and Northern Europe. I read, for example, that Valencia became a center of lusterware manufacture in the 1300s, the city's ceramists having learned the technique from Muslim and Morisco potters. And Venetian glassmakers came to Catalonia in the mid-16th century; many of the Catalan glass objects display the whorls and swirling white lines characteristic of Murano. 

Three factors led me to choose  today's object,  a small (perhaps 1 1/2 inch long)  17th century reliquary pendant depicting the Annunciation and fashioned of gold, enamel, rubies, crystal, pearl, and rock crystal.  First, it's really lovely; the small rubies encircling the enamel center immediately caught my eye.

Second, on a whim (or an inspiration?) I decided to look at it using the magnifying, close-up properties of my cell phone camera, and I discovered that I could see a far greater degree of detail through the camera lens than I could with the naked eye.  Hmm...- I wish I'd known this earlier. I can clearly see the angel holding up his arm in greeting, and I can almost read the  tiny print in which the words "Ave Maria, gratia plena" appear at the base of the Virgin's prie-dieu. 

Finally, it's fascinating to learn from a nearby placard that objects like this one were a way of getting around sumptuary laws that forbade most nonreligious personal adorment. By wearing jewels with religious meaning, people could show off both their wealth and their piety. Perhaps the impulse to adorn oneself is so strong that people can find work-arounds for all kinds of strictures.  

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