Bidspirit auction | BYZANTINE MARBLE CHURCH-SHAPED RELIQUARY CASKET

BYZANTINE MARBLE CHURCH-SHAPED RELIQUARY CASKET (CIBORIUM) - Ca. AD 600 - 800 A lidded marble reliquary casket in the form of an architectural ciborium, carved in two parts with a square body and a steep pyramidal lid. The lid is decorated along each face with a raised palm branch meeting at the apex, the four sloping sides set with alternating roundels enclosing a cross or a Chi-Rho monogram flanked by small alpha and omega letters, each acroterion carved with a small cross. The main body is carved as a church faade set on a stepped base, the interior hollowed to form a square cavity, the entrance with a central arcade resting on columns and framing a pair of doors, each panel showing a standing draped and haloed saint with a dove in the lunette above, the frieze above filled with scrolling foliage and a pair of flying archangels. The other three sides are modelled with similar arched bays, each enclosing a cross in the tympanum above a frieze of scrolling foliage. Size: 340mm x 160mm; Weight: 9.7kg. Provenance: Private UK Collection: UK art market, 2010s; Previously in private German collection; Ex-collection of Jean Marais, France, 1980s-1990s; Ex-collection of Michel Guy, France, 1970s-1980s. This item has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database and comes with a confirmation letter. This piece is accompanied by an authentication report from dott. Marco Aimone, an international Cultural Heritage expert, member of Fellow Society Antiquaries and is accompanied by a historical report from Alessandro Neri, an international Cultural Heritage expert based in Florence, Italy.