Kneeling Prophet from the Reliquary Chasse of Saint-Germain-des-Prés

This figure is one of only two known surviving fragments of the Reliquary Châsse of Saint-Germain. Fashioned from silver, gold, and precious stones, it was designed to hold the body of the saint. A contract from 1409 gives the names of the commissioned goldsmiths: Jean de Clichy, Gautier du Four, and Guillaume Boey.The reliquary was housed in the ancient Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris and formed the monastery’s great treasure until it was destroyed in the French revolution. The exquisite modeling of the prophet, originally a supporting foot of the reliquary, reveals the sophistication of Paris around 1400.