German, Brunswick
From the treasury of the Church of Saint Blaise

Monstrance with Relic of Saint Christina, 1450/1500

Silver, crystal, and enamel
D. 8.9 cm (3 1/2 in.) H. 22.2 cm (8 3/4 in.)
Gift of Mrs. Chauncey McCormick, 1962.90

Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories

Exhibition History

Frankfurt, Städelsches Kunstinstitut; Berlin, Deutsche Gesellschaft; New York, Reinhardt and Goldschmidt Galleries; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Museum of Art (now the Philadelphia Museum of Art); the Cleveland Museum of Art; the Detroit Institute of Arts; The Art Institute of Chicago; and San Francisco, The M. H. de Young Museum, The Guelph Treasure, 1930-1931 (at Art Institute of Chicago, March 31st to April 20th, 1931), cat. 56.

Art Institute of Chicago, Medieval Decorative Arts from Chicago Collections, October 2, 1985-January 5, 1986.

Publication History

G. W. Molanus, Lipsanographia sive Thesaurus sanctarum Reliquiarum Electoralis Brunsvico-Luneburgicus (Hanover, 1697), no. 23.

W. A. Neumann, Der Reliquienschatz des Hauses Braunschweig-Lüneburg (Vienna, 1891), pp. 300-301, no. 67.

O von Falke, R. Schmidt, and G. Swarzenski, The Guelph Treasure (Frankfurt am Main, 1930), pp. 89, 91, 189, no. 56.

Bessie Bennett, "Some Ecclesiastical Objects," Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 25, 6 (September 1931), pp. 78-79 here 79.

"Chicagoan Buys Objects from the Guelph Treasure," The Art News, 29, 16 (January, 17, 1931), p. 8.

Patrick M. De Winter, The Sacral Treasures of the Guelphs, Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 72, 1 (March 1985), p. 118, fig. 148. and 142, no. 74.

Patrick M. De Winter, Der Welfenschatz: Zeugnis sakraler Kunst des Deutschen Mittelalters (Hanover, 1986), p. 174, no. 74.

Ownership History

From the treasury of the Cathedral of Saint Blaise, Brunswick (Braunschweig), where it remained until the late 16th century; by descent through the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg, to Duke Ernst August II of Cumberland, before 1929; [treasury objects were brokered for sale by a consortium of dealers based in Berlin and Frankfurt: Julius F. Goldschmidt, Z. M. Hackenbroich, and Saemy Rosenbaum]; sold to Mrs. Chauncey McCormick, 1931 [according to Art News, January 17, 1931, p. 60]; gift to the Art Institute, 1962 [see Annual Report, 1961-1962, pp. 14-15].