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Lot Essay
THE OLDEST SECULAR OBJECT FOR AMIENS
This beaker is the oldest known secular medieval object struck with the town mark of Amiens, in use after 1376. it is also struck with the maker's mark recently identified to be that of Gilles or Hannotin de Hollande. There remains today very few examples of French medieval secular silver as changes in fashion and tastes led to them being melted down. It is therefore difficult to get a sense of stylistic development; however, the plain flaring beaker is one of the oldest forms and drinking vessel in use since the times of Antiquity.
Amiens, located in Picardie in the North of France, was an important city from the 12th century counting some 20,000 inhabitants and renowned for the weaving and dyeing of textiles, which brought not only wealth but also established an important community of rich patrons. The hallmarking of silver for that period was organised with the ordinance of Paris dated 1313, confirmed by letter patents of 1355 and enforced in the provinces by further réglements, established in Amiens in 1376. Accordingly every qualified goldsmith had to have a poinçon à contreseing, a mark that includes a device, and following the statutes of Noyon issued in 1398, it was compulsory for goldsmiths to have both a town and maker’s mark stamped on their work.
A BETROTHAL OR WEDDING GIFT
The motto engraved on the beaker 'Prenes en gré' was, a popular choice of decoration for betrothal or wedding gifts and can be found on various items of the period such as a 15th century carved ivory mirror cover in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, depicting a courting couple with the man offering the woman a flower and on a gold and enamelled posie ring dated from the 16th century in the British Museum Collection, London (no. 2002,0501.1).
The phrase is generally accepted as having been taken from a poem by the French poet, Christine de Pisan (1364-1430): ‘prenez en gré le don de votre amant’ extracted from her Cent Ballades, written circa 1394, although the phrase is found earlier in a slightly different form notably in the work of Jean Régnier, in Les fortunes et adversitez, published circa 1218-1220.
Christine de Pisan was an Italian born writer prominent at the French court during the reign of Charles V and Charles VI, writing on literature, morality and politics. Throughout the centuries, she remained an influential and popular author especially remembered for her fierce defence of women, which has earned her the title of the first feminist.