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Workshop: Unknown
Copper and champlevé enamel
Copper, raised, engraved, champlevé and enamelled. The shallow circular bowl has a narrow rim, and a spout on the left side. In the centre there is a circular medallion enclosing a man on horseback with a hawk on his wrist and scrolling foliage reserved in a blue enamel ground, framed by a continuous zigzag line reserved in a turquoise band. On the sides there are four white overlapping semi-circular petal outlines each enclosing two figures, a man playing a musical instrument and a woman dancing, except for the outline at the top in which the woman is doing a handstand. In each of the spandrels is a coat-of-arms (two, repeated) flanked by scrolling foliage reserved in a turquoise ground. On the back is a rosette engraved on the base with eight petals at the centre, and nineteen godrons to the edge.
History note: Félix Doistau; sold Hotel Drouot, 22-25 November 1909, Catalogue des objets D'art et de haute curiosité, émaux champlevés, ivories . . . . le tout dépendant des Collections de M. Félix Doistau, lot 114; purchased in Rome by the Right Hon. F. Leverton Harris
Given by the Rt. Hon. F. Leverton-Harris
Diameter: 22.6 cm
Height: 3.7 cm
Width: 23.6 cm
Method of acquisition: Given (1921) by Harris, Frederick Leverton
13th Century, first half
Medieval
Circa
1217
CE
-
1249
CE
Gemellions (from the Latin, gemellus, a twin) were basins used in pairs for hand washing. Water was poured from a spouted bowl onto the hands held over the other bowl. This was an important preparation for eating as forks were not used at meals. This bowl bears the arms of Hugh X de Lusignan, comte de la Marche (d. 1249), who in 1217 mar¬ried Isabelle, or Elisabeth, only daugh¬ter of Aymar I, comte d’Ang¬oul¬eme (d. 1218) and Alix de Courte¬nai (d. c. 1245). But the basin does not bear the arms of Angouleme. See Documentation, Marquet de Vasselot, 1952.
Decoration composed of enamel
Accession number: M.11-1921
Primary reference Number: 139823
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Gemellion" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/139823 Accessed: 2024-11-05 12:40:07
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/139823
|title=Gemellion
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-05 12:40:07|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-139823
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa20/M_11_1921.jpg"
alt="Gemellion"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Gemellion</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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