Every year on the fourth Sunday of Lent, the pope would give a golden rose to one of his followers whom he wished to reward specially for religious or political reasons.
Thornless, like those that perfumed Heaven, it was the symbol of the Passion of the Christ and his Resurrection.
This rose, which was given to the Count of Neuchâtel by Pope John XXII in 1330, is the oldest golden rose still held. The Vatican archives allowed its creator, the Sienna goldsmith Minucchio who worked in Avignon, to be identified.
From the treasury of Basel cathedral.
Inventory no.: Cl. 2351
Height: 60 cm
Period: 2nd quarter of the 14th century
Technique: goldsmithery
