Montalto Reliquary

The Montalto Reliquary is an elaborate reliquary in gold, silver, enamel and gemstones, with a central French Late Gothic section of the 1370s, added to by Italian Renaissance goldsmiths around 1460. It was given by Pope Sixtus V in 1586 to the cathedral of his home town Montalto delle Marche, in the Italian Province of Ascoli Piceno in the Le Marche region, and remains there in the Museo Sistino Vescovile, the episcopal museum.

The older central part of the reliquary was almost certainly made in Paris in the late 14th century for a member of the French Valois royal family, probably by the goldsmith Jean du Vivier and his workshop. It was passed around Europe as a diplomatic gift for the next two centuries, before ending up with the papacy. It is one of a handful of large survivals in the technique of enamels en ronde bosse, where three-dimensional surfaces are coated in vitreous enamel; others include the Holy Thorn Reliquary in the British Museum and the Goldenes Rössl ("Golden Pony") in Altötting, Bavaria. In the 21st century the reliquary has undergone two periods of examination and restoration in Florence, and has been in a number of exhibitions in Italy.