Alcune osservazioni sull'iconografia del reliquiario zaratino di San Crisogono

This paper shall focus on the peculiar appearance of the Saint Chrysogonus's reliquary-casket and aims to put forward some ideas about the reliquary's iconographic scheme. The object was created in 1326 for the Zadar's Cathedral. To some extent it can be related to certain reliquaries and liturgical artefacts scattered in the northern Adriatic and beyond; nevertheless none of these seem to bear a strict resemblance to the casket itself. According to my interpretation, the casket's iconography presents a play of comparisons and oppositions, resemblances and differences which produce the message the object has to convey. It is my belief that the reliquary is meant to underline the importance of the city's patron and to be a form of devotional enhancement of the saint himself. Moreover, the extensive use of “decorative patterns” might be not merely ornamental but instead meaningful and functional to the same aim.