Saint Sebastian in Green Vault, Dresden

Saint Sebastian, Frankfurt a. M., before 1706. Baroque pearl, gold, enamel, silver, gilded, emeralds, diamonds. H 12.5 cm. Green Vault, VI 106. © Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

A large, elongated pearl forms the body of the martyr Sebastian, who is struck by arrows. The Roman officer, martyred for his steadfast confessions to Christ, has his eyes fixed on the sky. He was handcuffed to a tree stump surrounded by vines. In a haunting way, the suffering of the saint is translated into the formal language of the perlpretioses. The event takes place on a splendid pedestal, the front of which is adorned by an enamel portrait that interprets the Christian love of Sebastian in the symbolic language of the baroque. The pearl figure was already in the first Pretiosensammlung August the Strong, which was pledged by this.
Source: http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2013/08/26/27899124.html