Front view of the pendant

This Illuminating Objects display examines an unusual seventeenth-century pendant, possibly a reliquary, showcasing this delicate object for the first time since it entered the collection of the Courtauld Gallery with the Gambier-Parry Bequest in 1966. Researched and prepared by Devon Abts, a PhD candidate in theology at King’s College London, the display explores the relationship between faith and aesthetics in Victorian England. It also considers the appeal of this particular object for the Anglo-Catholic artist and collector Thomas Gambier Parry (1816-1888).