Pair of Carved Polychromed Wood Reliquary Busts of Saints, 17th/18th Century

PAIR OF EARLY POLYCHROMED CARVED WOOD ECCLESIASTICAL RELIQUARY BUSTS OF SAINTS
Probably Italian, circa late 17th/early 18th century, raised on modern ebonized plinths
Marked on the reverse "XII" and "XIII", each with red wax seals

24" H x 16" W x 7 1/2" D [male]
23 1/2" H x 16 3/4" W x 7 1/2" D [female]

Each carved in the round and finished with layers of polychromy and worn silvering, these busts represent respectively a male and female saint and were always intended as a pair in perfect matched proportions. The female figure is shown with hair gathered and draped garments falling across the shoulders while the male figure wears a cuirass with a cloak draped across one shoulder and retains a stylized mustache and beard. They each have pierced bore holes at the back of their heads where an iron or wooden halo would have almost certainly anchored to suspend over them. Both have a reliquary window in the chest that has been filled with a small temporary insert (polychromed to loosely match the color of each bust).

The surface of each is chaotic and nuanced with a fabulous worn patination revealing lower levels of burnished gesso, polychromy and later silvering that partially obscures the fine scrolling foliate detail ground and carved into the wood and gesso in several areas of the garments that originally would have been raised with a burnished gilding. The carvings are fluid and well-developed with appropriate levels of crispness while maintaining a certain ethereal quality in the busts. The reverse retain an early white and gray paint, the heart left hollow as a void for a reliquary box to be inserted within each saint. Both have several red wax seals that were likely broken to remove the reliquary boxes at some point.

Condition: Surface wear throughout with losses to polychromy and silvering; touch ups and inpainting; the silvering (though quite old) is not the original surface. Cracking to the wood and overlying gesso in numerous areas, though overall the surface remains highly stable. Each has empty bore-holes in the back of their head where a halo would have originally been affixed. Evidence of age-related abrasions and minor losses to carved elements. Mounted on later bases.

ref. 511EMB09S