Монументальный французский алтарный реликварий-монстранция с частицами Животворящего Креста и реликвиями Страстей Христовых.

Monumental French gilt-brass altar reliquary-monstrance, dating to 1870–1880, housing five sacred Arma Christi relics associated with the Passion and Crucifixion of Christ.

The oval glass-fronted theca contains relics of the Wood of the True Cross, the Crown of Thorns, the Column of the Flagellation, the Holy Reed, and the Holy Sponge, arranged against a rich brown silk ground amid elaborate gold filigree and blue floral ornament. The Holy relics are identified in Latin on typeset cedulae labels as “Ex Ligno SS Crucis” (From the Wood of the Most Holy Cross), “Ex Spinae Coronae DNJC” (from the Crown of Thorns of Our Lord Jesus Christ), “Ex Col. Flag.” (From the Column of the Flagellation), “Ex Arundine” (from the Reed), and “Ex Spongia” (from the Sponge).

The theca is incorporated into an exceptionally elaborate French historicist altar reliquary, its oval aperture surrounded by a profusion of naturalistic flowers and foliage, flanked by two angels and winged cherub heads, and surmounted by a Cross in Glory. The floral composition rises from an amphora-form support above a richly ornamented architectural pedestal raised on paw feet. The design combines Neo-Baroque and Neo-Rococo exuberance with Louis XVI-inspired classical elements characteristic of late Second Empire ecclesiastical metalwork.

On the back, the theca remains secured by red cords beneath a seal of red Spanish wax bearing the coat of arms of Monsignor Charles-Théodore Colet (†1883), Archbishop of Tours (1874–1883).