Reliquary bust of Saint Emeric

Rococo pedestal, cast, wrought and engraved, on its front a rocaille-decorated scroll with writing S. Emereicus/Dux Hungariae. The cast silver hollow bust on the pedestal illustrates a beardless young man wearing a crown, looking slightly to the upper right. His gilded crown resembles that of archdukes. He wears a chiselled scutari undercoat (dolman) closable with a lace, decorated with large flowers and, over it, a mantle with fur lining.
Several series of silver reliquaries were made for the imperial treasury on the request of Maria Theresa, Empress and Hungarian Queen (1740-1780). Their making began in the 1750s. One of these series was meant to contain relics of Hungarian and Czech saint kings who played an important role in the dynastic representation of the Habsburgs. The reliquary of Saint Emeric belonged to this series, along with those of Saint Stephen and Saint Ladislaus.