Silver artifact

This very important and valuable artifact whose BUST dates from 1521 and the BASE from 1669-1670, is made of SILVER AND MATERIAL GILDED WITH EMBOSSED AND CHISELED FOIL. This reliquary bust of St. Anne was made by commission of Isabella Moncada, wife of Simone I Ventimiglia, as can be seen in the inscription at the base of the work: Sacrum Caput Divae Annae Primipare Christi Aviae Isabella Simeonis Viintimilli Marchionis Hieracensis consors, hac effigie decoravit, post partum virgineum An(no) MDXXI Idib(us) Ian(uariis).

The sacred relic of the skull of St. Anne is placed in the lower part of the reliquary protected by glass. The reliquary bust is adorned by a gilt copper border decorated with floral engravings and two dragons facing one another on the sides of the inscription. On the head of the bust, in the gilt silver halo with twelve points, is the inscription “Anna Mater Matris Dei.” The base is decorated with scenes from the life of St. Anne and St. Joachim and includes the door covering the relic, which depicts the episode of the meeting of St. Anne and St. Joachim at the Golden Gate. The other sides of the base are decorated with episodes of Joachim in the desert, the birth of Mary and St. Anne teaching the Virgin as a child to read.