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Lot Essay
The dramatic scene painted on the front of this platter is based on the Book of Revelations - or Book of the Apocalypse - from the New Testament. The author had a vision where he saw 'a woman on a scarlet beast...that had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adultery.' To the left of the scene are the powers of the world, including a pope, a Holy Roman Emperor and a king who is probably meant to represent a king of France, with the city of Babylon in the distance. The Whore of Babylon was widely identified with the Roman Catholic Church by reformers of the 16th century and the present platter was probably commissioned by a member of the protestant aristocracy. The source for the scene appears to be one of the Cranach illustrations in the Wittenberg Bible, printed by Hans Lufft in 1534 (Weinhold, op. cit.).
In her recently published book on the glass and enamels of the Wallace Collection, Suzanne Higgott refers to the known platters by Martial Courtois (or Courteys) employing this composition (op. cit., p. 321). They include an example in the Waddesdon Bequest at the British Museum, one in the Staatliche Kunstsammlung, Dresden, and one in the National Gallery of Art, Washington. She also refers to an example which was examined by the French curator Jean-Joseph Marquet de Vasselot (d.1946) who noted it as being from 'a Darmstadt museum'. It has now been established that the Darmstadt platter, formerly in the collection of the Grand Dukes of Hesse and by Rhine and subsequently in the Hessisches Landesmuseum, is the present lot. It left the museum in an exchange with Galerie Fischer in Luzern, where it was purchased by the collector whose estate is now offering it for sale.
Martial Courtois was the second son of Pierre Courtois and his works are dated between 1544 and 1581 (Verdier, op. cit., p. 101). Although not many of his works survive, the present example is typical of the luxurious use of colours among his extant enamels. The reverse of this dish, which is unusual for its use of a blue ground when the front employs a black ground, is decorated with an almost identical composition to the reverse of the Dresden and Waddesdon platters.
In her recently published book on the glass and enamels of the Wallace Collection, Suzanne Higgott refers to the known platters by Martial Courtois (or Courteys) employing this composition (op. cit., p. 321). They include an example in the Waddesdon Bequest at the British Museum, one in the Staatliche Kunstsammlung, Dresden, and one in the National Gallery of Art, Washington. She also refers to an example which was examined by the French curator Jean-Joseph Marquet de Vasselot (d.1946) who noted it as being from 'a Darmstadt museum'. It has now been established that the Darmstadt platter, formerly in the collection of the Grand Dukes of Hesse and by Rhine and subsequently in the Hessisches Landesmuseum, is the present lot. It left the museum in an exchange with Galerie Fischer in Luzern, where it was purchased by the collector whose estate is now offering it for sale.
Martial Courtois was the second son of Pierre Courtois and his works are dated between 1544 and 1581 (Verdier, op. cit., p. 101). Although not many of his works survive, the present example is typical of the luxurious use of colours among his extant enamels. The reverse of this dish, which is unusual for its use of a blue ground when the front employs a black ground, is decorated with an almost identical composition to the reverse of the Dresden and Waddesdon platters.