The Holy Thorn Reliquary (Object in Focus)

The Holy Thorn Reliquary (Object in Focus)

• Every purchase supports the British Museum
• Made in gold and enamel and decorated with precious stones, the Holy Thorn Reliquary depicts the salvation of mankind through the sacrifice of Christ
• It was commissioned around 1400–10 by Jean, duc de Berry, a member of the French royal family, to house a single thorn from the relic of Christ’s Crown of Thorns
• Having left the duke’s possession, it was recorded in Vienna from around 1544 until the 1860s, eventually being acquired by a member of the wealthy Rothschild family, with its true identity remaining undiscovered until the twentieth century
• This book explores the meaning and history of this fascinating object, and tells the tale of its remarkable survival and eventual passage to the British Museum