A GILT-COPPER AND ENAMEL RELIQUARY IN THE FORM OF THE VIRGIN AND CHILD ENTHRONED

LIMOGES, PART 13TH CENTURY

Details

A GILT-COPPER AND ENAMEL RELIQUARY IN THE FORM OF THE VIRGIN AND CHILD ENTHRONED
LIMOGES, PART 13TH CENTURY
Set with glass pastes; the reverse of the throne with a hinged door decorated with the figures of St. Peter and Christ; the ends of the throne decorated with a scene of the Annunciation.
Some wear to gilding; the back half of the Virgin, the throne and the stand probably 19th century restorations; the Virgin formerly wearing a crown and holding a sceptre, both now lacking; other minor losses and damages.
11¾ in. (29.8 cm.) high

Provenance

Raoul Heilbrunner Collection; Georges Petit, Drouot, Paris, 22 June 1921, lot 38.

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
W. L. Hildburgh, Medieval copper champlevé enamelled images of the Virgin and Child, Archaeologia, XCVI, 1955, pp. 113-58.
London, British Museum, 19 October 1981 - January 1982, Medieval Enamels - Masterpieces from the Keir Collection, M.-M. Gauthier and G. Franois, pp. 21-2, no. 19, pl. 17.

Lot Essay

Statues of the Virgin of this type were commonly constructed in two halves, front and back, and appear to have been designed to receive a container for the consecrated host (London, loc. cit.). In the present instance, only the front half of the Virgin and the figure of the Christ Child are original, whereas the back half of the Virgin and the throne are later additions, no doubt designed to complete a surviving fragment. Not only is the metal of a different colour, but furthermore the draughtsmanship of the drapery folds on the Virgin's back and the handling of the figures on the throne are markedly inferior. As the most comprehensive survey of them to date underlines (Hildburgh, loc. cit), these groups represent a considerable rarity among Limoges productions.

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