Lot Essay
This gabled architectural form was one of the most popular types of reliquary produced by the Limoges enamellers, and the roundels here with the half-length figures of angels was a favoured motif. A smaller example was offered in the sale of enamels from the Keir Collection (Sotheby's, New York, 20 November 1997, lot 93), and a reliquary of very similar form - albeit without the pierced gable evident here - was included in the seminal work on Limoges by Ernest Rupin, L'Oeuvre de Limoges, Paris, 1890, p. 333, fig. 39.