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Pendant with the Santa Faz of Jaén
, late 16th centuryTortoiseshell, gold, enamel, crystal, paint on paper
Weight 23.4 grams; dimensions 66 × 50 × 3 mm
Pendant with the Santa Faz of Jaén
Tortoiseshell, gold, enamel, crystal, paint on paper
Spain (Jaén), late 16th century
Weight 23.4 grams; dimensions 66 × 50 × 3 mm
$20000.00
The face of Christ we see on Veronica’s veil, although the “true face”—the vero icona—is a face that appears in markedly different guises to different viewers. In this tiny pendant, beautifully framed in precious tortoise shell, Christ’s doleful but sympathetic eyes return the gaze of the viewer in a similar fruitful dialogue.
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Description
The face of Christ we see on Veronica’s veil, although the “true face”—the vero icona—is a face that appears in markedly different guises to different viewers. In this tiny pendant, beautifully framed in precious tortoise shell, Christ’s doleful but sympathetic eyes return the gaze of the viewer in a similar fruitful dialogue. The image seems to have been produced with paint added to a simple outline drawing on paper; it is preserved under beautiful and valuable rock crystal and supplemented with enamel rosettes. The sumptuous setting for the “simple” reproduction of the face, in the end, is consistent with the Veronica tradition and its promise.