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St Louis
Maker: Nouailher, Jean-Baptiste I (Probably)
Rectangular plaque painted in enamels and gilded. St Louis kneeling before an altar, titled 'SAINT LOUIS' below, with raised white foliage reserved in a black ground in the spandrels
Rectangular convex plaque with slightly waisted left side, and two holes at top centre. Copper, painted in royal blue, pale blue, green, yellow, flesh pink, orange-red, red, brown, grey, black, white, and raised white enamels , and gilded. The counter-enamel is cloudy dark-brown. An oval medallion with a narrow white frame encloses St Louis kneeling on a cushion beside an altar. His right hand is extended behind him and his left hand is on his chest. He has a rayed halo around his head, and greying shoulder-length hair. He wears armour under a royal blue, ermine-lined robe semé with gold fleur-de-lys, a white fur collar, and a chain with a circular pendant bearing a red cross on a yellow ground. His crown and sceptre lie on the ground behind him on the viewer’s left, and on the right a green crown of thorns and nails rest on a white cloth on an altar with a red and yellow striped frontal with a red fringe on the lower edge. Above on the left is a green, draped up curtain, and on the right, the sunlight streams through clouds onto the Saint. The top of the cushion is pale blue semé with gold fleur-de-lys, and it has a red and yellow sides. In the spandrels outside the frame there is raised white foliage reserved in a black ground. At the bottom is a white panel inscribed in black, ‘SAINT LOUIS’ with a stylized leaf spray between the words.
History note: Edwin H. Lawrence, FSA (1819-91); sold Christie’s, 4-6 May 1892, Catalogue of the valuable collection of ancient and modern pictures, water-colour drawings, miniatures, snuff-boxes, porcelain, objects of art, and decorative furniture, of Edwin H. Lawrence, Esq., F.S.A., deceased, late of 84, Holland Park, second day, lot 169; Frank McClean, MA, FRS (1837–1904), Rusthall House, Tunbridge Wells; bequeathed by him.
Frank McClean bequest
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1904) by McClean, Frank
Louis XV
Circa
1730
CE
-
1760
CE
Louis IX of France (1214-70) was renowned for his just government, piety, and charity. In 1234 he married Margaret of Provence, whose sister Elénore married Henry III of England in 1236 He went on an unsuccessful Crusade to the Holy Land between 1248 and 1254, and died of fever near Tunis at the commencement of another Crusade to North Africa in 1270. He was canonized by Boniface VIII in 1297, and became the patron Saint of France, and of the Third Order of St Francis. By the early eighteenth century demand for large items of enamelled tableware, such as dishes, ewers, and basins had declined, but the enforcement of Roman catholicism by Louis XIV (d. 1714) ensured that there was a continuing demand for religious images. Consequently small plaques of Christ, the Virgin Mary, or Saints formed a high proportion of the output of the few remaining Limoges enamellers. Some plaques were attached to the textile covers of religious books, and others were framed singly or in small groups to form a focus for private devotions. The images are generally simple in design, and contemporary observers remarked on the decline in the aesthetic quality of Limoges enamelling. The style and colouring of the front of this plaque, and its dark counter-enamel are typical of those produced in the Nouailher workshop in the first half of the eighteenth century. It closely resembles the Fitzwilliam's plaque of St Eléonore (M.47-1904) signed by Jean-Baptiste Nouailher I (1697-1775) . Alternatively it might be by Bernard I Noualher (1702; still living 1748; died before 1752).
Decoration
composed of
enamel
( royal blue, pale blue, green, yellow, flesh pink, orange-red, red, brown, grey, black, white, and raised white)
gold
Plaque
composed of
copper
Accession number: M.46-1904
Primary reference Number: 156432
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 (2025) "St Louis" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/156432 Accessed: 2025-03-28 17:56:32
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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/156432
|title=St Louis
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-03-28 17:56:32|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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<div class="text-center"> <figure class="figure"> <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa20/M_46_1904_20_281_29.jpg" alt="St Louis" class="img-fluid" /> <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">St Louis</figcaption> </figure> </div>
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