id: 160970 accession number: 1999.229 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1999.229 updated: 2023-01-11 08:55:18.282000 Reliquary Box with Scenes from the Life of John the Baptist, 1300s. Byzantium, Constantinople, late Byzantine period, 14th century. Tempera and gold on wood; overall: 9 x 23.5 x 9 cm (3 9/16 x 9 1/4 x 3 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Bruce Ferrini in memory of Robert P. Bergman 1999.229 title: Reliquary Box with Scenes from the Life of John the Baptist title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1300s creation date earliest: 1300 creation date latest: 1400 current location: 105 Byzantine creditline: Gift of Bruce Ferrini in memory of Robert P. Bergman copyright: --- culture: Byzantium, Constantinople, late Byzantine period, 14th century technique: tempera and gold on wood department: Medieval Art collection: MED - Byzantine type: Wood find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 9 x 23.5 x 9 cm (3 9/16 x 9 1/4 x 3 9/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: John the Baptist--the first person to recognize Christ as the promised savior and the one who baptized him in the Jordan River--was one of the Byzantine Empire’s most revered saints. This box shows four scenes from the saint’s life: John’s martyrdom, Christ’s baptism, John’s birth, and the announcement of his birth to his parents. It probably once housed one of the saint’s relics; several were kept in churches and monasteries in Constantinople, including fragments of his skull and right arm and locks of his blood-clotted hair. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art, “Cleveland Museum of Art Acquires Rare Chinese Paintings, Baroque Porcelain Plaque and Other New Acquisitions Exhibited with Hanging Scrolls,” December 20, 1999, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. page number: url: https://archive.org/details/cmapr4305 Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 90-91, no. 26 url: Bagnoli, Martina. Treasures of heaven: saints, relics, and devotion in medieval Europe. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2010. page number: Reproduced: cat. no. 52, p. 93 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.229/1999.229_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.229/1999.229_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.229/1999.229_full.tif