Virgin and Child, halo and reliquary

home collections reliquaries Virgin and Child, halo and reliquary
INV OR.215
Nossa Senhora com o Menino resplendor e relicário

PLACE/DATE
Germany, Regensburg, 16th century (sculpture), 17th century (halo and reliquary)

MATERIALS
Chased and gilt silver, gilt copper, rock crystal

DIMENSIONS
Our Lady with the Child: 34 x Ø 16.3 cm (base); 1020 g (Or. 215);
shrine: 46 x 26.4 cm (Or. 92);
base: 22 x 22 x 22 cm (Or. 273)

INV
OR.215

It is quite possible that this silver sculpture of the Virgin and Child, from Regensburg, was bought there by João de Borja (1533-1606).

It is one of his earliest gifts to the Society of Jesus, perhaps in 1587, and one of the few known sculptures from this important centre in Germany. The oval-shaped, radiant-sun-shaped silver halo did not originally belong to the sculpture. It would have been added in the 17th century, as was the cubic base in gilt copper, inside of which the skull of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus (3rd century), one of the most famous relics of the old shrine of São Roque, is housed.