Treasury of St Mark's Basilica

These objects were largely destroyed in a fire in 1231: only a fragment of the True Cross, an ampulla containing the Precious Blood of Christ, and a relic of Saint John the Baptist survived.

The new collection included works of art brought back to Venice by the Venetians in 1261 when they were expelled from Constantinople as well as gifts from foreign rulers and objects produced locally.

[6] After the fall of the Venetian Republic to Napoleon in 1797, the French ordered that all objects in precious metal that were not ordinarily used for religious services were to be deposited in the mint where many were melted down to obtain 535 kilograms of gold and silver.

[7] In 1798, during the first period of Austrian rule of Venice (1798–1805), the surviving objects were returned to the treasury, and in 1801 five important manuscripts belonging to the basilica were transferred to the Marciana Library.

This bowl was made in Iran or Iraq between the 9th and 10th centuries C.E., and is currently mounted in a silver-gilt setting encrusted with jewels and Byzantine enamels.

[12] The opaque turquoise glass bowl is adorned with five lobes, each with an image of a running hare enclosed within a panel carved in low relief.

[13] Another exemplary piece of Islamic art held in the collection is a Fatimid rock crystal ewer, one of a small group of similar objects.