Bidspirit auction | Gilt Copper sculpture of Saint

Gilt Copper sculpture of Saint John the Evangelist, Tresor of Rouen Cathedral, France, 18th century, (c.1776) - Gilt copper, repoussé and engraved. Dimensions: 21.5 x 7.7 cm. This small appliqué statue of Saint John the Evangelist was originally part of the Gothic reliquary shrine of the Church of Saint Romain in Rouen, a thirteenth-century masterpiece of medieval goldsmithing. Designed in the form of a chapel with pinnacles, it functioned as an architectural reliquary casket and was decorated with champlevé enamels, mounted on a wooden structure. Originally, it housed relics of several saints, but since 1776, it has preserved only those of Saint Romain, a bishop venerated for the miracle of chaining a gargoyle that once terrorized the city. Over the centuries, the reliquary has undergone several restorations—in 1776, 1833, 1869, and 1956. The most recent intervention, in 2021, was led by Anne-Marie Geffroy and supervised by the DRAC Normandie, during which the corner buttresses and dislodged pinnacles were reinforced. In its current form, the reliquary includes fourteen statuettes: the twelve apostles, Christ, and the Virgin and Child. Most are 13th-century repoussé copper, while some additional elements in cast copper date from the 18th century, and others in electroplated copper come from the 19th century, resulting in a blend of styles and techniques accumulated through various restorations. One of the statuettes, Saint James the Greater, is now housed in the Musée du Louvre (Musée du Louvre, Inv. CL 0101 1568); it was removed from the reliquary at some point and was not altered during the 18th- and 19th-century restorations. The original Saint John the Evangelist, which remained in place until 1776, is now preserved in the Wallace Collection in London and was likely replaced at that time by the cast copper copy we now possess. From a technical standpoint, the current piece appears to correspond to the version used in the 1776 restoration. It is affixed by remnants of a copper element on the back and bears the Roman numeral “I”, indicating its position in one of the niches of the reliquary (the corresponding figure of Saint James was marked “II”). Compared with the original version, our piece features a much shinier patina, with less oxidation; the folds of the robe and the details of the raised hand and the one holding the gospel are less defined. All these features confirm that it is a later version, made in 1776 to replace the original. In the 19th-century restorations (1853 and 1869), Violet-le-Duc-style criteria were applied, definitively separating the original piece and placing a galvanized copper statue in its stead—this version remains in the reliquary today. The reliquary casket is currently preserved in the treasury of Rouen Cathedral. Provenance: Formerly in a French private collection. Currently in a private collection in Barcelona. An expert report issued by the auction house is attached.