# Reliquary of St Valerie [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [UNKNOWN GOLDSMITH, French]() - Date: 1151-1200 - Technique: Wood, engraved copper with champlevé enamel, and gilding, height 28 cm ## Commentary Reliquary of St Valerie c. 1175 Wood, engraved copper with champlevé enamel, and gilding, height 28 cm The Hermitage, St. Petersburg St Valerie of Limoges is a legendary Christian martyr and cephalophore, associated with the Roman period, whose cult was very important in Limousin, France, in the medieval period. \(A cephalophore is a saint who is depicted as carrying his or her own head. Generally, this is represents a holy person martyred by decapitation.\) Among the masterpieces of Romanesque art produced in Limoges workshops is the reliquary casket bearing scenes from the life of Valerie, the daughter of the ruler of Aquitaine and one of the patron saints of the city. ## Related artworks - [Allegory of Faith in Baptism]() - [Angel Reliquary \(detail\)]() - [Angel Reliquary]() - [Aquamanile]() - [Binding of a Book of Hours]() - [Bust Reliquary]() - [Butterfly Reliquary]() - [Casket with Scenes of Courtly Love]() - [Casket with Scenes of Courtly Love]() - [Corpus]() - [Enseigne with battle composition]() - [Fibula of Picquigny]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()