I find myself increasingly attracted to religious icons and artifacts of all sorts, in no small part, I think, due to the abundance of ornamentation so often present, even better when some of it is ribbons. Beautiful antique French Canivet relic circa the early 1800s. This is a beautiful relic with a lot of detail. A "canivet" card is an art connected to small holy pictures, and it was probably born in France, in the 13th century or thereabouts. With this craft, the holy pictures are realized in needlework using chromo, textiles, and a plethora of other materials. The French and Italians are famous for this type of art.
Works of art such as this were left almost exclusively to the hands of monks and nuns in medieval monasteries and convents. They used to craft them as an expression of Christian faith and spiritual exercise, going beyond prayers. Today, it is commonplace, and we might call this a flat mixed-media piece.
This particular piece was most likely framed, but the frame is long gone. It uses chromos, paper, ribbon, and fabric. The cross is paper, as is the wreath, and mixed green vines are at the bottom. The dress is white and has a blue sash. The spots on the dress are actually small burn marks, which must have taken forever to do. I can only begin to imagine the time it took. The trim on the headpiece is cut silver metal with paper beneath it. There is a green paper on the bottom cut into ferns with ribbon flowers on top.
This piece is beyond stunning and measures 4.5" x 3". As time passes, these will only get harder and harder to find.
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