Reliquary Bust of San Gennaro
by GODEFROYD, Etienne, Gold and silver with inlaid enamel and jewels
In 1304 Charles II of Naples commissioned three Provancal goldsmiths, Etienne Godefroyd, Guillaume de Verdelay, and Milet d’Auxerre, to produce a reliquary bust of the patron saint of Naples, San Gennaro. It was probably intended to mark the one-thousandth anniversary of the saint’s martyrdom. This kind of relics were carried through city streets on festival days and in times of peril.