Front: fragments of gilded bronze on modern mount.	Back: virtually intact gilded bronze pieces.
It was the rather terrifying image on the front (above) that struck me first. Clearly a design was incised into the foil but the fragments looked disturbingly un-Christian.  Stranger still, the display is above a shrivelled object (right) that looks like bits of an Egyptian mummy. It's actually the beechwood core of the reliquary, preserved by the unlikely good fortune of being chucked into a Saxon cesspit inside its gilded cover. The copper salts in the bronze coating tinting it partly green - possibly deterred mould and bacteria. For some reason, the museum has displayed the core on its side, the neck (left) and part of the base (at the right) having rotted away. The gilded bronze torn away from those parts, allowing the contents of the cesspit to do their worst. X-rays also reveal something inside the core, possibly rolled parchment or skin, probably the relic which merited a gilded casket. It can't be recovered without irrevocably damaging the core.
	So why would an object in a museum appeal to an artist? I work from objects that are transformed by their history and does this have a history! Poorly-made when Viking raids impoverished King Alfred's Wessex, it was assembled from a kit of parts, invested with relics - then almost immediately torn to pieces and dumped. I begin a project by gathering information: notes, sketchbook studies, photos - a process already started by the museum. Bringing these together through drawing, painting and digital imaging creates the piece which in this case is this web page. Compare the study (left), drawn directly from the reliquary, to the confusing photograph below. Already knowing more of my subject's history is focussing my attention. The result is not a measured record but the rediscovery of humanity in a face concealed for a millennium.

	A closer view with enhanced colour reveals the oval face of Christ (centre of the picture) more clearly. Sadly the gold has worn from the nose to give it that button-like appearance. The "vee" shaped neck of the garment, and its drapery across the body are clearly visible. The hand (little banana-like object, just above the drapery, bottom left)  is very poorly depicted, should possibly be directing the eye to the Book of Judgement, shown as a square with five dots on it in the right bottom corner. There's a clear  archaeologically accurate reconstruction of the whole figure by Nigel Fradgley in The Winchester Reliquary.
This digital image links the fragments with the core behind them. The core no longer fits because it deformed as it dried out.
	Enhanced colour in this digital image reveals more of the indented design. The floating piece at the top left nearly completes the "crucifixion nimbus" that surrounds the head. The displayed reliquary is skilfully restored, revealing little of the massive damage suffered when virtually new. Possibly a 9th or 10th century thief ripped away parts of the gilded bronze foil, folded them up so tightly some couldn't be couldn't be flattened. But the largest lump had three distinctive sides, enabling the restorer to make a wax impression and reproduce it in metal.

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