An Elegant Case Holding the Placenta of Christ the Lord, Expelled After His Birth From Blessed Mary
6-4 B.C.E.; MID-18TH CENTURY
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The Case is 18K gold and stands on four elegantly curved feet, each detailed with volutes and foliage. The panels are meticulously joined, offering an unhindered view of Mary’s holy afterbirth, which itself rests on a cushion of ivory silk.
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No visible marks or imperfections on the Case, the glass is clear and undamaged, the Placenta is in unnaturally-robust condition, given its age.
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In private collections, names withheld by request. Gifted to Piermont & Thorne in 1944.
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This sacred relic is the result of Mary’s God-given talent for parthenogenesis, being a portion of placenta that, according to legend, miraculously began to grow soon after Christ’s resurrection, and stopped only when Christ himself held the placenta in his hand. Accounts differ as to where the placenta was then taken, though it reappears in Church literature during the Fourth Crusade, after the sacking of Constantinople.
lot 3
An Elegant Case Holding the Placenta of Christ the Lord, Expelled After His Birth From Blessed Mary