Galleria Nazionale

Gilded silver chalice and paten (ca. 1304)

It seems that Pope Benedict XI had these precious items with him when he died at Perugia.  He had probably intended to give them to the friars of San Domenico (later San Domenico Vecchio, the church in which he was buried) since the enamels of saints around the base of the chalice include SS Herculanus and Lawrence, two of the patron saints of Perugia.  

Both the chalice and the paten, which has an enamel of the Ascension at its centre, are mentioned in the two oldest inventories from San Domenico, respectively dated 1417 and 1430.  The chalice continued to be recorded there until 1863, when it was moved to the gallery.  The paten was among a cache of precious objects that was discovered under the floor of the choir in 1954, at which point it was reunited with the chalice in the gallery.

The design of the chalice is similar to the chalice (ca. 1290) by the Sienese Guccio di Mannaia that Pope Nicholas IV gave to the Franciscans at San Francesco, Assisi (which is now in the Treasury there).  The artist responsible for the San Domenico chalice and patens seems to have been a follower of another Sienese, Pace di Valentino.

Patens (early 14th century)

These two patens, one with an enamel of the Resurrection and the other with an enamel of St James and a pilgrim, were rediscovered under the floor of the choir of San Domenico in 1954, when they were moved to the gallery.  Each of them had been recorded, along with an accompanying chalice, in the sacristy in the inventories of 1430 and 1458.  Both chalices were subsequently lost, but that corresponding to the first paten had been inscribed with the signatures of the Sienese Tondino di Guerrino and Andrea Riguardi.  It is likely that both patens came from this workshop.

Gilded silver paten (mid 14th century)

This paten, which has an enamel of the Annunciation at its centre, was rediscovered under the floor of the choir of San Domenico in 1954, when it was moved to the gallery.  It had been recorded in the sacristy in the inventories of 1430 and 1458.  The accompanying chalice, which was subsequently lost, had been inscribed with the signatures of the Sienese Ugolino di Vieri and Viva di Lando, the artists who were also responsible for the Reliquary of the Corporal (1337) in the Duomo, Orvieto.

Gilded silver chalice and paten (late 14th century)

These objects, which were recorded in the sacristy of San Domenico in the inventories from 1417 onwards, remained there until 1863, when they were moved to the gallery.  The chalice is inscribed with the signature of Cataluccio da Todi, who lived in Perugia in the period 1374 - 87.

Reliquary of St Anne (late 14th century)

This reliquary was recorded in the sacristy of San Domenico in the inventories from 1430 onwards and remained there until 1863, when it was moved to the gallery.  It may have been made in Todi by a follower of Cataluccio da Todi. 

The niche in the upper register once contained two of the fingers of St Anne, the mother of the Virgin, but these were apparently stolen in 1609.  The niches in the lower register contain statues of the Madonna and Child and of SS Dominic and Thomas Aquinas.

Tabernacle for the reliquary of St Juliana (ca. 1376)

This gilded copper tabernacle from Santa Giuliana, which was probably commissioned from a Sienese workshop, originally contained a reliquary that in turn contained a piece of the skull of St Juliana.  The relics of this saint had been translated from Cuma to Naples in 1207, and this fragment subsequently passed into the possession of the friars of San Domenico.   They enclosed it in a reliquary bust of the head of St Juliana, which was inscribed with the additional information that it had been made in Rome by Master William.

In 1376, Bishop Andrea Bontempi persuaded the friars to give the relic and its reliquary to the nuns of what was then the Monastero di Santa Elisabetta, where his sister, Gabriella was the Abbess.  The nuns changed the dedication of their nunnery to Santa Giuliana and commissioned this tabernacle to enclose the reliquary.  The inscription records that the friars had made this gift “of their own free will and with honour”.  An inscription on the upper part of the tabernacle records that Abbess Ermelinda Montesperelli  commissioned it as a replacement for the upper part of the original in 1852.  The lower part of the tabernacle seems to have been heavily restored at this point.

The nuns removed the reliquary from the tabernacle in the Napoleonic period so that both could be hidden.  They accompanied the nuns from Santa Giuliana to Santa Maria di Monteluce in ca. 1862.  The tabernacle was subsequently moved to the gallery, and was included in an exhibition held in 1907.  The reliquary appeared on the market in 1933 and subsequently found its way to the Metropolitan Museum, New York.