The Winchester Reliquary

These images explore one of Winchester City Museum's most enigmatic objects: a gilded burse reliquary, dating from the 9th or 10th centuries*. This is a bag-shaped container for relics, measuring approximately 18 cm tall by 16 cm wide. A poignant example of just how much Winchester suffered through repeated Viking raids: the gilding is thin, the embossed figure of Christ (Mid. top row)) weakly drawn in a manner that would indicate haste - although a study of Christ's head (top row, right), reveals a touching sense of suffering: you can just pick the head out in the top centre photo. Look for the four diagonal lines of the drapery just under "V" neck. The oval face is just above that. On the reverse (top row left) Acanthus leaves were cut from an embossed metal strip - just as we would buy a yard of braid, then pinned quite crudely onto the wooden core. X-rays indicate organic contents still within the core (photo lower centre), possibly rolled parchment or skin! Winchester Museum has mounted this relic sideways so I've drawn it the right way up showing that part of the base had rotted away. The reliquary met an ignominious end: excavation revealed that not long after it had been made, it was torn into tiny pieces and dumped into a Saxon cesspit. Possibly the rage of a disappointed robber?*For much of the historical and excavation information I'm indebted to the paper "The Winchester Reliquary" by David A Hinton, Suzanne Keene and Kenneth E Qualmann.