Reliquary bust of Saint Cassian of Tingis in carved, polychromed and gilded wood. Dressed as a soldier with helmet and cuirass, the saint holds a sword in his right hand and a baton of command in the other; oval reliquary reserve surrounded by coiled leather in high relief on the chest; molded base bearing the inscription S.CASSIANVS.M. Italy, circa 1600 H. 36 cm Inscription in ink under the base S. Cassianus Martyr. (minor damage and missing parts) Saint Cassianus of Tingis was one of five soldiers belonging to Maximian's North African army who were executed in 298. In fact, the Roman emperor carried out a harsh crackdown on his soldiers who had embraced the Christian faith, to the point of condemning to death all those who refused to engage in idol worship. This was the case for five of them serving in Mauritania Tingitana, now Morocco. Cassianus, a Christian military clerk, was also executed as a martyr, protesting against what he considered the iniquitous sentence of Prefect Agricolanus. The motif placed in the middle of the inscription on the base could be interpreted as the number 9, indicating that this reliquary bust belongs to a set kept in a church treasury.