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RELIQUARY
Coffin of Saint Cuthbert
698 AD (original wooden coffin)
Relic Body of Saint Cuthbert, found incorrupt when exhumed in 698
Material Oak coffin carved with Christ and the apostles, later shrine of gold and gems (destroyed)
Location Durham Cathedral, England (coffin fragments and relics survive)
The original oak coffin bears the earliest surviving depictions of Christ and the evangelists in English art, carved with a knife into rough wood. The magnificent later shrine was destroyed at the Reformation. The simple coffin endured.