FRENCH, LE PUY, 1487

The French inscription around the window on the front of this lot translates to: ‘In the year 1487 on the first day of June the present reliquary was given to Saint Clavel de Chamalières by the great and powerful lord master Claude Armant Viscount of Polignac’. The extraordinary story of the Holy Nail of Chamalières and its remarkable reliquary is first known to have been published by the Augustinian prior Jacques Branche (1590-1662) in his La Vie des Saincts et Sainctes in 1652 (Branche, op. cit. , pp. 286-292). The nail itself was said to have been discovered by Saint Helena in the 4th century AD who gifted it to her son the Emperor Constantine and, in the ninth century, passed into the hands of Emperor Charlemagne. Branche tells us that it was around 946 AD that the nail found its home in the Benedictine priory of Chamalières on the river Loire, some fifteen miles from the town of Le Puy.
Five centuries later, the Vicomte de Polignac, Claude-Armant XIV (1469-1509), upon hearing the miracles that had occurred at Chamalières thanks to the relic, stated that ‘if the nail is as powerful as they say, let it make my blind mule see, and then I shall believe’. No sooner had he spoken, the mule’s sight was restored but Polignac was blinded. Recognising his fault, he travelled to the priory to ask God’s forgiveness for his lack of faith and his sight was restored. In thanks for this miracle, Branche tells us that Polignac gifted a ‘bel et riche Reliquare d’argent doré, et du cristal’ to the church, noting its inscription, identical to that of the present lot. In the centuries that followed Polignac’s gift, Chamalières continued to be associated with stories of cured blindness thanks to the relic.
The veneration of nails from the True Cross said to have been found by Saint Helena is known to have occurred throughout the medieval and Renaissance period, with several sites claiming to house them. The nails, as instruments of the Crucifixion, were among the most important relics in Christianity and would have made Chamalières a popular pilgrimage destination. Both relic and reliquary remained at the priory until the early nineteenth century, when the authenticity of the relic was cast into doubt. The nail was removed and the reliquary sold. The nail, however, can still be seen today at the Cloister Museum of Le Puy Cathedral some fifteen miles from Saint Chamalières.
An incredibly rare survival of hallmarked French fifteenth century silver, it is thanks to the inscription and the Le Puy town mark that its story has not been lost and we can say with certainty it is the same piece described in 17th-century local records. The object alone is remarkable for its craftsmanship and excellent condition but our extensive knowledge of its history makes it an exceptional survival and one of very few of its quality and age to remain in private hands.

For the maker’s mark ‘BE’ see: E. Beuque and M. Frapsauce, Dictionnaire des Poinçons de Maîtres-Orfèvres Français du XIVe siècle à 1838, 1982, no. 172.