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Lot Essay
Comparative literature:
E. Rupin, L'Oeuvre de Limoges, Paris, 1890, pp. 313-321.
M.M. Gauthier, Emaux du moyen age occidental, Fribourg, 1972, pp. 112-114, 337-338, no. 64, illustrated.
This rectangular enamel plaque was intended to function as an elaborately decorated bookcover, of which approximately 200 examples of varying subject and quality are known. One of the most popular subjects for the front was the Crucifixion, as seen here, and it was often paired with another plaque of Christ in Majesty surrounded by the symbols of the Four Evangelists adorning the reverse. Among the known examples of the Crucifixion, the vast majority of them do not portray the body of Christ in applied relief but rather engraved into the main rectangular plaque. Exceptions to this include a rubbed example sold from the Flannery Collection (Sotheby's, London, 1 December 1983, lot 36) and a very complete example sold from the Feltrinelli Foundation which was attributed to the Master G. Alpais (Christie's, London, 1 July 1997, lot 104).
E. Rupin, L'Oeuvre de Limoges, Paris, 1890, pp. 313-321.
M.M. Gauthier, Emaux du moyen age occidental, Fribourg, 1972, pp. 112-114, 337-338, no. 64, illustrated.
This rectangular enamel plaque was intended to function as an elaborately decorated bookcover, of which approximately 200 examples of varying subject and quality are known. One of the most popular subjects for the front was the Crucifixion, as seen here, and it was often paired with another plaque of Christ in Majesty surrounded by the symbols of the Four Evangelists adorning the reverse. Among the known examples of the Crucifixion, the vast majority of them do not portray the body of Christ in applied relief but rather engraved into the main rectangular plaque. Exceptions to this include a rubbed example sold from the Flannery Collection (Sotheby's, London, 1 December 1983, lot 36) and a very complete example sold from the Feltrinelli Foundation which was attributed to the Master G. Alpais (Christie's, London, 1 July 1997, lot 104).