© British Museum
The Ninian Reliquary
Unknown Artist
- Art Funded
- 1946
- Dimensions
- Diameter: 5.1 cm
- Vendor
- Lazlo Ekstein
A golden capsule reliquary containing beneath a domed crystal, a relic of the True Cross in a field of pearls and accompanied by a golden relic plate, now loose.
The prominence of St. Ninian makes it virtually certain that the reliquary was made for a church in North Britain, probably one of the few Premonstatensian houses in the north, such as Alnwick or Easby.
Provenance
Lazlo Ekstein