About a Bejeweled Reliquary in the Shape of a Foot

In the possession of Hollingworth Magniac, Esq., is a celebrated jewelled "reliquary," formerly in the treasury of the Cathedral of Basle, and obtained at the sale of the church property in 1834. It is in the form of a sandalled foot, in silver parcel gilt, set with pearls, etc., and is of Swiss work, 1470. The length is nine and a quarter inches, height five and a half inches. The foot is in silver, well and minutely modelled in beaten work, the toes most beautifully executed in the naturalistic style of Martin Schongauer, or the artists of the Van Eyck school; the sandal forms a covering for the greater part of the foot, leaving the toes only exposed; it is diapered all over with small gilded applied rosettes in relief, and bound round by several straps, set with large jewels and glass pastes. In front, on the instep, is a raised circular medallion, containing a pane of glass, intended for the inspection of the relic formerly contained within, which was a foot of one of the Innocents, given to the church by St. Colombanus, and the work of one Oswald, probably a goldsmith of the city of Basle. Above the raised circular medallion is a large rosette in high relief of elegant foliage in gold, set with pearls. On each side of the ankle, also, the sandal is decorated with a large circular applied medallion, formed by a beautiful translucent cloissone enamel of green, red, and white tints, and gold filets, arranged in a floriated pattern, surrounded by zones of filagree work, and thickly set with seed-pearls. Around the top, where the ankle is cut, the margin is surrounded by a band of jewels, crested with a raised open-work crown of strawberry leaves; this encloses a circular medallion carving, in mother-in-pearl (placed horizontally on the summit), representing the Presentation in the Temple. Access to the interior of the foot is obtained in the sole of the sandal by a hinged door, which is ornamented on both sides, by inscriptions, varied with scroll ornaments, engraved or chiselled in low relief, in large church text characters. On the exterior the inscription is as follows:-"In. tegmen . pes . de . innocentibus. Sanctus . Columbanus . dedit"; and inside, "Osvaldus . fecit . hoc . opus . de . voluntate. Dei . 1470 . iar." This remarkable reliquary is engraved in Shaw's "Decorative Arts of the Middle Ages," etc.