Léonard Limosin, The Descent
from the Cross, 1557.
Painted enamel, 33.5 cm. Castle of Écouen,
Musée national de la Renaissance.
Apart from those of the remote East, all the cloisonné enamels in our public and private collections are of Byzantine origin. The Greeks seem to have begun to work in this manner as early as the 6th century. The golden altar, given by Emperor Justinian to the Hagia Sophia and shared among the Crusaders in 1204 during the conquest of Constantinople, is the oldest monument of which there is any record. Then come the Iron Crown of Lombardy given to the Cathedral of Monza by Queen Theodolinda, who died in 625, the golden altar of Saint Ambrose at Milan made by Volvinius in 825, the votive Crown of Saint Mark in Venice, executed between 886 and 911, the Limburg reliquary made for Basil II before his accession to the throne in 976, and lastly, the celebrated Pala d’Oro of Venice begun in 976 and finished in 1102, by the Doge Ordelafo Faliero.
With respect to champlevé enamels, they are found embellishing numerous reliquaries, some dating back to the 12th century. It seems Germany also deserves accreditation for this style, which appears to simultaneously first have been adopted with the cloisonnage on the crosses of Essen and Theophania (1041-1054). It is at least certain that when Suger enriched the Church of St Denis, from 1137-1144, with new ornaments, he sent for workmen from Lorraine to execute the enamels.
An important piece is the ciborium of copper gilt and enamel, now in the Louvre. This beautiful specimen, in which the chased and perforated bronzes rival the incrusted enamels, seems to be a work of the 13th century. The bronzes of the stem are in the Oriental style in their entangled maze, enclosing figures of men and monsters. Thus the gilt crown that circumscribes the opening is etched with a pattern replicated in a decorative purpose and a general form of the device of the kings of Granada; a number of other reliquaries from this epoch are preserved in the Cluny. One of such includes hand basins, once called gemellions; they were always in pairs, one of them with a spout to pour out the water and the other to receive it under the hands of the person being ministered to. In the Louvre may be examined a 14th century ciborium of spherical form, the body adorned with four monograms of the Saviour, and the lid with four escutcheons. One can also see the curious casket on which the shields of England and France embellish the circumference, while the top is adorned with two figures formed of a young man and a young woman.