Another motif that is repeated in a number of occasions in the Cycle of the Life

and Passion of Christ in the Bible ofAvila, also present in the Harrowing of Hell, is the

way the artist did the collar of some of the garments. An example of this can be found in

the shrine of Saints Adrian and Natalia from the monastery of San Adrian de Bofiar

(Leon) dated to the 12th century (Fig. 72).200 The silver and oak shrine was decorated with

repoussi reliefs depicting the dismembering of Adrian at Nicomedia.201 The collar of the

garments of the figures is done with a double rectangular shape that curves at the edges,

and is open at the center with a longer but narrow curving rectangle, which is done in a

similar way to its correlating motif in the Bible ofAvila. In addition to this motif, the

drapery of the garments of the figures is similar, with the bodice incised with

semicircular almost parallel lines that go across their bodies. Other examples that also

resemble slightly the collar motif in the Bible ofAvila are the ivory panels from a

reliquary in Leon dated between 1115 and 1120 (Fig. 73).202 In the Journey to Emmaus,

and the Noli me Tangere, Christ wears a similar garment with the same type of collar,

although in the ivory example the collar is dotted. Another example that more closely

resembles the motif of the collar comes from the large relief sculptures from the cloister

panels of the monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos (Burgos), dated to the last third of the

11th century.203





200 The Art of2~edieval Spain, ad 500-1200, 1993, p. 257.

201 Ibid.

202 The Art of2~edieval Spain, ad 500-1200, 1993, pp. 250-251.

203 Palacios, M., Yarza Luaces, J., y Torres, R., El~ona~sterio de Santo Domingo de
Silos, 1989, p. 17.