The Anne of Brittany heart jewel case , often referred to as the Anne of Brittany heart reliquary , is a gold funerary object made in the early 16th century to house the heart of Duchess Anne of Brittany , Queen of France. Stolen during the night of April , the jewel case was found by police on 21 April near Saint-Nazaire and returned to the museum in September of the same year. However, these are assumptions made in relation to the work carried out for the queen's burial, which is detailed in known archives, unlike the ceremonies for the transfer of her heart.
In addition, the absence of a hallmark prevents any attribution. It has a satin finish. It is encircled by inscriptions in gold letters enhanced with green, blue and red enamel, in praise of Anne's heart. The year shown is in Roman numerals , in abbreviated form. The year of the Duchess's death has, for several centuries, been established as , but it predates the calendar reform by Charles IX , before which the year began at Easter , i.
The jewel case is surmounted by a crown, topped by nine fleur-de-lis alternating with nine ermines sometimes described as shamrocks adorned with filigree. According to old observations, the crown is suspended above the jewel case by a chain. It weighs grams. The queen had expressed the wish that her heart should rest beside her parents in Nantes.
The cardiotaph was placed in three boxes from the inside out, according to the description : [ 1 ]. The set was transported to Nantes with great fanfare. On 19 March , it was placed by Montauban, assisted by Bretaigne, Anne of Brittany's herald , in the tomb of Francis II of Brittany then in the Carmelite convent at Nantes , on a slate stone between the two coffins of the duchess's parents. The box was empty, as the heart had probably disintegrated.
On 25 December , in response to an instruction from the National Convention , the reliquary was once again exhumed, emptied and seized as part of the collection of precious metals belonging to the churches, and sent to the Nantes Mint to be melted down. Because of its fragility and heritage value, it is rarely loaned out. The original jewel case had been insured in the past at a cost of five million euros.
