This reliquary originally housed about 60 Christian relics, including one said to be of the Shroud of Christ. On the front side are the image and piece of bone identified as of the Apostle Saint James (Jacob, Santiago) who was believed to have preached in Spain and whose purported relics were venerated by pilgrims at Santiago da Compostella in northwest Spain, where miracles were ascribed to them. According to the inscription on the base, the reliquary was donated by Ferdinand á Crespos to the Church of Saint Michael in the town of Fuenfria, in 1598.

This reliquary originally housed about 60 Christian relics, including one said to be of the Shroud of Christ. On the front side are the image and piece of bone identified as of the Apostle Saint James (Jacob, Santiago) who was believed to have preached in Spain and whose purported relics were venerated by pilgrims at Santiago da Compostella in northwest Spain, where miracles were ascribed to them. According to the inscription on the base, the reliquary was donated by Ferdinand á Crespos to the Church of Saint Michael in the town of Fuenfria, in 1598.

According to legend, shortly before 1300, angels miraculously transported the Virgin’s cottage in Nazareth–where the miracle of the incarnation (God conceived in human form) took place–to Italy, setting it down near the town of Loreto. It became a famous pilgrimage shrine. Here, the Virgin, holding the Infant and a chalice, is shown seated on her house to suggest her presence in the shrine. An angel holds a scroll inscribed in Latin, “Holy Mary of Loreto, pray for us.” Gathered below are wild animals including a unicorn, tamed by the Virgin’s purity.

Traditional Islamic decoration, with intricate patterns in inlaid pieces of wood, ivory, and bone (some dyed green), persisted in Spanish furniture long after the last Muslim stronghold of Granada was conquered in 1492. In the 1600s, an image of the Madonna of Mercy wearing the badge of a religious order was set into the central section. Such desks, often placed on stands, were common in upper-class Spanish households. They were easily transported between residences.

This unidentified nobleman with a pointed beard suggestive of Spanish fashions wears armor embellished with a Habsburg double-headed eagle indicating his allegiance to the dynasty and is draped with a cloak, in the Roman style. The cloak is actually a lion skin, alluding to Greco-Roman myths of Hercules who wore the skin of a conquered lion and achieved divinity through “Herculean” acts of strength and virtue. Habsburg symbolism frequently involves Hercules.