Reliquary Casket with Scenes from the Martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket
 |
| "Reliquary Casket with Scenes from the Martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket [English or German]" (17.190.520) In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/17.190.520. (November 2015) |
This piece was created in 1917 and was gifted to J. Pierpont Morgan composed of silver, partial, gilt, niello, and garnet cabochon and its dimensions are 5.7 x 7 x 3.4cm. In British culture this was typically the kind of object one would given as a gift hence the reason why it was give to J. Pierpont Morgan. It was inspired by the untimely death of Saint Thomas Becket who was known for his opposing views against King Henry II over human vs monarchical rights. Due to this Thomas was killed by four knights of Henry's court on December 29, 1170. At the time a lot of religious items were given to people because they believed in the spiritual world and their ticket to heaven so it was not uncommon to see or receive such objects.
 |
| People are hard to draw!!! |
The gold borders represent the holy and angelic light of the heavens emphasizing the darker events that took place in the pictures within the borders. In the first panel (frontal view) it depicts the slaying of Becket while an angel appearing above him looking sadly upon the scene. The red jewel shows that devil has stuck, this is emphasized by the snake slithering from it, but the angel is ready to receive him and take care of him on his new journey to heaven. On the top left panel (furthest) there is a depiction of the Fleur-de-lis which is a religious and symbolic of the French to emphasize purity. This box is ornately crafted given the deep detail and the use of gold and a huge ruby, as well as the dimension and depth seen in the faces of the people depicted in the scenes proving that this gift was for the higher class. Because many upper class people were affiliated with the church, this gift held a lot of significance to the people of this time. The purpose of giving this was not to hold things in there, unless it was something holy like a cross, but rather to pay homage to the Saint and to be used as a decorative item for that reason. This impacts the audience today by giving them perspective into the amount of influence religion had on the people from the past. It specifically connects to high school students who study
Hamlet (us) because in
Act 1, Scene 7 when Hamlet was reconsidering killing Duncan he knew that Duncan was a nice guy and that God would look down up him for slaying of a noble king. This directly connects to the scene being depicted on the front side of the reliquary casket because the angel is looking directly down on Becket.
