Within the treasury of the Basilica di San Giovanni Battista, in Monza, Northern Italy, one object stands out: a golden statue of a hen, surrounded by her seven chicks, all placidly pecking grain from a large disk (figure 1). According to local tradition, the hen and her brood were discovered in the thirteenth century within the sarcophagus of Queen Theodelinda (c. 570-628 C.E.), when her remains were transferred from their original resting place in the chapel of her sixth-century palace to Monza’s newly-built basilica. Among the remnants of medieval treasuries that have managed to survive to the present day, the hen is undoubtedly an unusual piece. Yet it is often described as unique, “un unicum assoluto” without any point of comparison —an assertion that is patently untrue.