Matchbox Reliquary

Acrylic on Matchbox
Available

This is a wee reliquary for the devout traveler. I was shooting for a feeling of street-fair preciousness.



The front features an Agnus Dei and a wandering vine. The side is an ornamental Memento Mori.

On the back are the Four Evangelists.

Inside, we find a little Crucifixion. Look! It's the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, and St. John. Up by the cross is Longinus with the spear. The angled bar of the cross points up to Dismas, the repentant thief, and down to Gestas, the unrepentant. It is a symbol of the possibility of last minute redemption. Also, at the foot of the cross is the skull of Adam. The river is my own addition referencing St. Christopher.

Inside, where any little relics would reside, we find St. Christopher, patron saint of travelers. He was a giant (hence the dog head in the Orthodox depictions) who carried the infant Jesus across a river. As he crossed, the tot got heavier and heavier until Christopher carried the weight of the world's sins on his shoulder. The Vatican removed him from the calendar of saints in '69, saying it was unclear as to whether the whole story was historically accurate. I'll limit myself to saying that that's a mighty slippery slope for the old Vatican to be traversing.