Holy Thorn Reliquary | The British Museum.

There was a huge trade in fake religious relics, pieces of the Crown and the Cross, even parts of saints bodies were in circulation. In my opinion the thorn in this reliquary is just another fake, but the beautiful artwork housing it highlights the gospel and the destination of every person. The narration of the director gives a passionate description as to the purpose of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Everyone’s eternal future is determined by their relationship with the Father through His Son’s atoning sacrifice. “In it we watched a terrifying drama of the end of the world, the day on which we along with all the other dead will be raised and will face judgment, this is a drama in which one day every spectator will be a participant…For medieval Christians the only hope of escaping the torments of Hell lay in the redeeming blood that Christ had shed…The blood drawn by this worthless thorn will save immortal souls, and so nothing earthly can be too precious for it.”
The British Museum has a medieval masterpiece. In The Holy Thorn Reliquary Room, the Reliquary is on display. The Holy Thorn Reliquary is made of gold, enamel, rock crystal, pearls, rubies and sapphires. It is just over 30 centimetres (12 in) high and weighs 1.4 kilograms (3.1 lb)
The design of the front face is based on the general resurrection of the dead following the Last Judgment. At the top sits God the Father, above two angels. A small hole at the level of their knees shows where a dove representing the Holy Spirit was originally attached; with Christ below, all three persons of the Trinity were therefore represented. A round-topped compartment protected by a rock-crystal "window" holds the relic itself and the group around Christ. Christ in Judgment is shown seated displaying the wounds of his crucifixion, with his feet resting on the globe of the world, and making a blessing gesture. As with all the enamelled figures that are still extant, the hair is in gold, the main robe is in white, and the flesh is in white with coloured eyes and lips, a touch of pink on the cheeks. Behind Christ the celestial spheres are represented like a rainbow, and above him fly two angels holding Instruments of the Passion, including the crown of thorns over his head; behind him a cross in shallow relief emerges from the curved gold background. The thorn relic rises below and in front of him, mounted on a "monstrously large sapphire".
To the left and right of Christ are shown John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary in supplicant poses, a traditional grouping; John was also one of the Duke's patron saints. Around the central scene small figures of the twelve Apostles carrying their identifying attributes emerge from the foliage border of oak leaves and tendrils; the uppermost heads on each side are replacements, probably by Weininger in the 1860s.
Rear view
Below this upper section there is a gold scroll label with the Latin inscription Ista est una spinea corone / Domini nostri ihesu xpisti ("This is a thorn from the crown / Of Our Lord Jesus Christ") in black enamel filling the engraved letters. Below the inscription is a scene showing the mass resurrection of naked people rising from their graves on the Day of Judgement. On a green enamel mound like a hillside are four naked figures, two men and two women, emerging from tiny gold coffins whose lids have been upturned on the ground; the women wear white caps. Four angels blowing horns sound the "Last Trump" of the Book of Revelation, standing on the turrets of a tiny castle which serves as the base of the reliquary.