Description
Paris, Royal Workshop, Ca. 1321. Gold, gold-plated silver and enamels
As it appears in the scroll that the figure carries in his left hand, it is a pilgrimage offering of the Parisian Geoffroy Coquatrix, an important member of the French court of the time and who was related to several monarchs. It was precisely this good social and economic situation that allowed him to be one of the promoters of the Brotherhood of Santiago in Paris and to be able to commission this delicate reliquary image in the silversmith workshops of the court. This piece represents a starting point in the Jacobean iconography, with an Apostle who will progressively become a pilgrim; in this case, he wears an ordinary cape up to his feet and a wide hat proper of the time and carries a staff that holds the aforementioned inscription and, in his right hand, a Gothic shrine that contains the relic of the Saint.