Catalogue No. 22
The Holy Cross in Mother of Pearl
A large cross clad entirely in carved shell, pale as moonlight and finely worked.
- Material
- Mother of pearl
- Technique
- Carved and inlaid by hand
- Made in
- Bethlehem, the Holy Land
- Dimensions
- Measurements on request
- Dispatch
- Within 48 hours, by EMS
The Subject
The Holy Cross with flowering, budded arms, a form that recalls the Cross as the Tree of Life. At its centre the corpus of Christ is surrounded by fine engraved and pierced ornament.
The Making
Mother of pearl is cut from the inner layer of the shell in thin plates, shaped with fine saws and files, engraved, and fitted piece by piece over a wooden core. On a cross of this size there are hundreds of individual pieces, and the slightest misjudgement cracks the shell.
Chosen by the house from the workshops of the forty Bethlehem families it works with, and sent to you from Old Caritas Street.
Every order leaves Bethlehem within 48 hours, sent by EMS Express Mail Service. Your tracking number is emailed to you the day the parcel is handed over.
Because each piece is packed and sent by hand from the Holy Land, we do not accept returns or exchanges once an order has shipped. If anything arrives broken, email a photograph to info@saint-michael-store.com and we will send a replacement.
