Arm Reliquary of Saint Luke
Unknown · Before 1338
Shaped as a forearm dressed in a sleeve with armorial orphreys, the reliquary is crowned by a hand holding a pen, the attribute of Luke as writer of his gospel. The relic was displayed in a faceted beaker of rock crystal held by four armorial bands, and the foliate base carries further lozenge-shaped shields. The inscription on the cuff declares: Here is the arm bone of blessed Luke the evangelist. The arms are those of Anjou, gold fleurs-de-lis on blue with a red label, and of Majorca, red pales on gold, identifying the owner as Queen Sancia of Majorca, wife of Robert of Anjou, king of Naples.
Made in Naples before thirteen thirty eight, it forms a pair with the arm reliquary of Saint Louis of Toulouse displayed nearby. Both probably passed to two queens, Eleanor of Aragon and Eleanor of Albuquerque, the latter bequeathing them in fourteen thirty five to the Dominican nuns of Medina del Campo in Spain. Sold in eighteen ninety, the Saint Luke arm passed through the Spitzer and Heckscher collections and that of Lord Astor of Hever, at whose sale in London the Louvre bought it in nineteen eighty three.
Did You Know? Separated in the nineteenth century, the two Neapolitan arm reliquaries of Queen Sancia were reunited in the Louvre only in nineteen eighty three.
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