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Lot Essay
The Spanish cities of Girona, Barcelona and Palma Mallorca were important centres for the production of translucent enamels in the second half of the 14th century. The courts of the kings of Mallorca, Aragon and Castille had strong links to their European neighbours, and goldsmiths and enamellers from France and Tuscany are known to have travelled to the region in search of work (Gauthier. op. cit., p. 233).
The present processional cross has close stylistic links to other crosses known to have been produced in south-eastern Spain, including one in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. M.500-1956), one in the cathedral museum at Girona attributed to the masters Berneç and Andreu and one in the Collegiate church of Jativa (the latter two are illustrated in Gauthier, op. cit., pp. 398 and 295 respectively). All share the same overall form, with fleur-de-lys terminals preceded by a quadrilobe which has been enamelled (or was formerly enamelled). They also each have the outline of the cross embellished with a border of repeating trefoils set at a 45 degree angle. The translucent enamels are also close to the work of other Spanish enamellers as seen through the use of colour, the luxuriantly curling hair and the distinctive rounded eyes with indicated pupils. A quadrilobe enamel of the Annunciation in the Cleveland Museum of Art (inv. 1922.312.1; catalogued as 'Spanish, Catalonia?, circa 1350-1400') is so close that it may well be by the same hand as the present enameller.
The Girona cross has been dated by Gauthier to circa 1357-1360 on the basis of its close stylistic similarity to the documented altarpiece in the same cathedral, but she also notes that the influence of Berneç and Andreu lasted well into the 15th century, and the cross in the Victoria and Albert museum is dated as late as 1400-1410. It therefore seems likely that the author of the present cross produced it in the Catalan region under the influence of Berneç and Andreu in the final decades of the 14th century.
The present processional cross has close stylistic links to other crosses known to have been produced in south-eastern Spain, including one in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. M.500-1956), one in the cathedral museum at Girona attributed to the masters Berneç and Andreu and one in the Collegiate church of Jativa (the latter two are illustrated in Gauthier, op. cit., pp. 398 and 295 respectively). All share the same overall form, with fleur-de-lys terminals preceded by a quadrilobe which has been enamelled (or was formerly enamelled). They also each have the outline of the cross embellished with a border of repeating trefoils set at a 45 degree angle. The translucent enamels are also close to the work of other Spanish enamellers as seen through the use of colour, the luxuriantly curling hair and the distinctive rounded eyes with indicated pupils. A quadrilobe enamel of the Annunciation in the Cleveland Museum of Art (inv. 1922.312.1; catalogued as 'Spanish, Catalonia?, circa 1350-1400') is so close that it may well be by the same hand as the present enameller.
The Girona cross has been dated by Gauthier to circa 1357-1360 on the basis of its close stylistic similarity to the documented altarpiece in the same cathedral, but she also notes that the influence of Berneç and Andreu lasted well into the 15th century, and the cross in the Victoria and Albert museum is dated as late as 1400-1410. It therefore seems likely that the author of the present cross produced it in the Catalan region under the influence of Berneç and Andreu in the final decades of the 14th century.