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Plaque with Beasts
French (Limoges) or English
Medieval
about 1300
Object Place: England or France
Medium/Technique
Champlevé enamel on copper
Dimensions
15.4 x 10.2 cm (6 1/16 x 4 in.)
Credit Line
William E. Nickerson Fund, No. 2
Accession Number48.1321
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsEnamels
DescriptionOne of a pair with 48.1321. Each of the two rectangular plaques has ten pinholes filled with nail heads. Hammered, champlevé, chased, engraved, enameled, and gilded. Enamel colors are lapis blue, red, green azure blue, and white in single and mixed fields of up to three colors. The plaques form a continuous design. Each shows winged beasts in two vertical rows of quatrefoils, which alternate, both vertically and horizontally, between lapis blue and red. Each quatrefoil contains an engraved beast in reserve. They are arranged in either facing or addorsed pairs. The gilded ground, engraved and punched in a stippled pattern, has enameled plants with trefoil leaves (green, blue, and white) alternating with green parrots flanking smaller plants (blue and red).
ProvenanceBefore 1938, Baron Maximilian von Goldschmidt-Rothschild (b. 1843 - d. 1940), Frankfurt [see note 1]. 1948, Rosenberg and Stiebel, New York; 1948, sold by Rosenberg and Stiebel to the MFA for $2500 [see note 2]. (Accession Date: December 9, 1948)
NOTES:
[1] Maximilian von Goldschmidt-Rothschild was forced to sell his art collection to the city of Frankfurt in 1938, but there is no evidence that this plaque or its companion (MFA accession nos. 48.1320 and 48.1321) were in his collection at that time. A letter from Saemy Rosenberg of Rosenberg and Stiebel, to Georg Swarzenski of the MFA (November 23, 1948) indicates that they came from the collection of Max von Goldschmidt-Rothschild and that "I have now succeeded in buying them." It is possible that he bought the plaques from a member of the Rothschild family, who consigned many works of art to Rosenberg and Stiebel in the 1940s and 1950s.
[2] MFA accession numbers 48.1320 - 48.1321 were acquired together for this price.
NOTES:
[1] Maximilian von Goldschmidt-Rothschild was forced to sell his art collection to the city of Frankfurt in 1938, but there is no evidence that this plaque or its companion (MFA accession nos. 48.1320 and 48.1321) were in his collection at that time. A letter from Saemy Rosenberg of Rosenberg and Stiebel, to Georg Swarzenski of the MFA (November 23, 1948) indicates that they came from the collection of Max von Goldschmidt-Rothschild and that "I have now succeeded in buying them." It is possible that he bought the plaques from a member of the Rothschild family, who consigned many works of art to Rosenberg and Stiebel in the 1940s and 1950s.
[2] MFA accession numbers 48.1320 - 48.1321 were acquired together for this price.