Large monstrance-reliquary in engraved, chased, repoussé and - Lot 40

Large monstrance-reliquary in engraved, chased, repoussé and gilded copper, glass. Vertical cylindrical ampulla flanked by architectural and openwork turrets with pinnacles, ogival bays, quatrefoils, leafy arcatures and gargoyles; bell-capped dome with pointed roof supported by six buttresses and summit cross; hexagonal-section stem interrupted by a gadrooned knot with six diamond-shaped cabochons; wide base with six accoladed lobes; inscriptions on the reliquary support de[us] (?) s[anc]ti + ioh[ann]es baptiste / + de + ligno sancte + crucis. Medallion mounted on the base bearing the inscription KVKEL/SHEIM surmounting arms azure on a helmet argent variegated with four feathers of the same and three feathers gules. Germany, second half of the 15th century Total height 53 cm Handwritten numbering under the foot (small accidents, missing parts and restorations) According to the inscriptions, this monstrance-reliquary would have contained relics of the True Cross and St. John the Baptist. The medallion bears the name and coat of arms of Elbert von Kückelsheim, provost of Clarholz (a Premonstratensian monastery in Westphalia) from 1693 until his death in 1750. A great patron of his abbey and its outbuildings, in 1746 he had a new presbytery built for the church of St. John the Baptist in Beelen, to which this monstrance-reliquary may thus be linked. Works consulted : - J. Meier, "Kloster Clarholz und die Pfarrkirche von Lette" in Westfälische Kunststätten, Münster, 1990, p. 56. - A. Hildebrandt, Wappenbuch des westfälischen Adels, Max von Spiessen, vol. II, 1903, p. 95.