Remaking the Golden Tree of Lucignano

The Golden Tree of Lucignano is a spectacular reliquary made for the church of Saint Francis in Lucignano, Tuscany. It was made in two phases, first in 1350 by an unknown goldsmith, then expanded and completed in 1471 by the  top goldsmith of 15th century Siena, Gabriello D’Antonio. The form follows the Lignum Vitae, Tree of Life, that was a regular object of contemplation among Franciscans friars.

Back in 1914, the Golden Tree was stolen. The culprits were a gang of local thieves who immediately broke it into pieces to share out among them. Much of it was recovered right away as the thieves clumsily dispersed across the countryside. Many more pieces were found between 1927 and 1929, presumably because the thieves fell out and began to rat on each other. The Tuscan regional government paid to have the tree re-assembled by a master goldsmith, using drawings to recreate replicas of the still missing pieces. It has been on display in the museum at Lucignano ever since.

And now, thanks to a "tip from on elderly man," more pieces have been recovered from a nearby cave.

A certain Commander Mauti from the Carbarneri cultural crimes unit made an extensive statement to the press:

What was foundwere four plaques in gilded copper and enamelled silver, 16 votive offerings in silver, once placed on the base, a miniature on parchment and a ground rock crystal.

The discovery has the characteristics of exceptionality because it occurred over a century after the sensational theft of the work, which occurred in 1914. As evidenced by period images, only small portions of the branches and the heavy base were spared at the time, although depleted of the most precious elements.

Between 1927 and 1929 many fragments of the Tree, torn to pieces by thieves to facilitate transport, were found – Superintendent Gabriele Nannetti recalls this – in the countryside of the municipality of Sarteano, in the province of Siena, where they had been hidden by the perpetrators of the theft. However, elements of great importance such as the terminal crucifix, the pelican, one of the branches, four of the circular medallions, five silver plaques, at least three miniatures and the upper part of the temple knot were not recovered. Even those few sprigs of coral that the reliquary still had at the time of the theft were lost.

What a fabulous story: the gang of incompetent thieves who stole something they had no clue how to sell, the pieces hidden in barns and caves for decades, no doubt the subject of endless rumor and gossip, and now the reunion of the broken masterpiece.