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Lot Essay
The present enamel salt-cellar is seemingly one of the finest known of its type, executed in the first quarter of the 17th century. In terms of form, painting style and gilt-decoration it compares very closely to another salt-cellar in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, by Jean I or Jean II Limosin and dated to the first quarter of the 17th century (Verdier, loc. cit.). It is also highly comparable to a pair of salt-cellars in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (Baratte, loc. cit.), and a single in the Musée Municipal de L'Évêché, Limoges (Notin, loc. cit.), the former signed by Joseph Limosin and the latter attributed to him. In each instance, one can see very similar music-making figures, painted in foil-backed translucent enamel, standing under baldachins and surrounded by densely painted gilded foliate scrolls.
An interesting feature shared by all these salts-cellars are the richly decorated upper and lower borders, which are particularly fine and elaborate on the present lot; being painted with foil-backed translucent green, blue, amber, pink, and violet enamelled birds and parrots. A virtually identical frieze of birds and parrots can be seen on a pair of pair of candlesticks depicting The Story of Jacob and Esau also inscribed 'I.L.' (for Joseph Limosin) in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. Nonetheless, the most delightful elements of each of these salts is the painted portrait or representation in the centre of the well. In the case of the present lot, the sensitively painted three-quarter portrait of a woman is based on the same prototype as the Ariadne painted by Leonard Limosin in circa 1564 and now in the Musée Vivenel, Compiègne.
An interesting feature shared by all these salts-cellars are the richly decorated upper and lower borders, which are particularly fine and elaborate on the present lot; being painted with foil-backed translucent green, blue, amber, pink, and violet enamelled birds and parrots. A virtually identical frieze of birds and parrots can be seen on a pair of pair of candlesticks depicting The Story of Jacob and Esau also inscribed 'I.L.' (for Joseph Limosin) in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. Nonetheless, the most delightful elements of each of these salts is the painted portrait or representation in the centre of the well. In the case of the present lot, the sensitively painted three-quarter portrait of a woman is based on the same prototype as the Ariadne painted by Leonard Limosin in circa 1564 and now in the Musée Vivenel, Compiègne.