105g Tiger Iron Eye Skull – Saint Dionysius

In the third century the Romans led Dionysius, the first bishop of Paris, to the hill outside the city, which today is called Montmartre, and struck off his head. But the body did not lie. It rose, took the head in both hands and walked away. The Legenda Aurea tells that he preached the whole way with the head in his hands, miles away, to the place where he wanted to be buried. There today rises the Basilica Saint-Denis, the burial place of the French kings. In the city’s coat of arms of Crefeld, the saint bears two halos. The Parisian salon lady Madame du Deffand remarked of his path only dryly: “Il n’y a que le premier pas qui coûte” – only the first step costs effort. Halloween is the night before All Saints’ Day, and for this night this skull wears its own aureole. Golden shimmering tiger’s eye surrounds the skull cap. From above, ring after ring of gold, red, and black encircles the crown, a halo that won’t let go of him. Beneath lies the face in rougher, earthy red, crossed by fine dark lines. It is the face of a martyr who has already seen quite a lot. Above the face and below the jaw, chatoyance awakens with every turn, pierced by black-glossy streams of hematite. These black streams carry their secret in their name, for hematite is named after the Greek word for “bloody.” No matter how metallic dark the ore shines, on an unglazed porcelain tile it leaves a cherry-red to red-brown trace. Black in gloss, blood-red in dust: the right material for the night of the saints. Material: Tiger Iron Eye (Tigereisen): composite of golden-brown tiger’s eye, black to steel-gray hematite, and red jasper Origin: Western Australia (pre-Cambrian banded-iron formation); Dimensions: 5.0 x 3.6 x 3.3 cm Weight: 105 g Special features: Golden, strongly chatoyant tiger’s-eye zone around the skull cap, visible from above as concentric rings of gold, red, and black; broad red jasper band across forehead and temples; face predominantly in red jasper with fine dark lines and earthy, rough-looking markings; occipital region and underside of the skull with vivid chatoyance and flowing hematite swirls; highly polished

Estimation:€1

Voir tous les objets deCatawikiouEthnographie