AN ENAMEL TRIPTYCH DEPICTING THE CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN FLANKED BY SAINTS PAUL AND PETER
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AN ENAMEL TRIPTYCH DEPICTING THE CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN FLANKED BY SAINTS PAUL AND PETER

ATTRIBUTED TO THE MASTER OF THE LOUIS XII TRIPTYCH, LIMOGES, LATE 15TH CENTURY

Details
AN ENAMEL TRIPTYCH DEPICTING THE CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN FLANKED BY SAINTS PAUL AND PETER
ATTRIBUTED TO THE MASTER OF THE LOUIS XII TRIPTYCH, LIMOGES, LATE 15TH CENTURY
In a gilt-metal frame and wood mount; traces of gilding; inscribed on the bottom of each wing 'SANCTUS PAULUS APOSTOLUS' and 'SANCTUS PETRUS APOSTOLUS'; the remains of a wax seal to reverse.
Damages to frame and mount.
9 x 7¼ in. (22.8 x 18.4 cm.) the central panel
9 x 3¾ in. (22.8 x 9.5 cm.) each wing

Provenance
By tradition, Hannah de Rothschild, later Countess of Rosebery (d.1890).
Literature
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
P. Verdier, The Walters Art Gallery - Catalogue of the Painted Enamels of the Renaissance, Baltimore, 1967, nos. 31-35, pp. xviii, 56-73.
S. Netzer, Maleremails aus Limoges, Berlin, 1999, no. 1, pp. 62-63.
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The present triptych, which is remarkable for its state of preservation, is a rare survival of an early painted enamel. The surface of the three plaques is complete, and although much of the gilding has worn away, in a raking light it is still possible to see how extensively the gilded detail was: drapery folds were heightened with gilding, the floor tiles were painted with gold quatrefoils, the architectural details of the background were further refined, and the swathes of cloth behind SS Paul and Peter were decorated to look like brocade. Interestingly, the patterns used for this latter detail are repeated in an enamel by the 'Monvaerni Master' (Netzer, loc. cit.) to whose style this triptych is also related.

Stylistically, the triptych is from amongst the earliest of the painted enamellers, none of whom has been firmly identified. The Master of the Louis XII Triptych derives his name from a triptych of the Annunciation in the Victoria and Albert Museum, featuring a portrait of Louis XII on one of the wings. A number of enamels have been linked, stylistic ally, to that example, and the present triptych can be included in their number. Particularly close is an enamel of the Pietà in the Walters Art Gallery (Verdier, op. cit., no. 31, pp. 56-60). It displays the same palette and drapery style, and the characterful faces - particularly of the flanking male saints - are reminiscent of the face of St. John in the Pietà. This is in contrast to the faces of the roughly contemporary 'Master of the Large Foreheads', whose faces tend to be blander and more stylised.

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