Reliquary Bust of St. Sixtus

Abstract

This reliquary bust of San Sisto (Pope Sixtus II, d. 258), currently housed in the Museo del Duomo in Viterbo, originates in the Church of San Sisto in Viterbo. It was made in the mid fifteenth century of copper and silver and elaborately decorated with punchwork, chasing, gilding, and gems. It was definitely created before 1467, as on September 20 of that year Niccolò della Tuccia noted that the reliquary was taken out on a procession to honour the Madonna della Quercia (a miraculous image much honoured in Viterbo), carried inside a wooden tabernacle by four priests. The papal tiara is not historically accurate, as the triple crown form was not invented until the fourteenth century, and so an early Christian martyr is shown here as a Renaissance pope. The tiara is hinged so that it could be opened to give access to the relics within. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.