a monumental gilt-bronze and onyx sevres style cobalt-blue ground lidded vase and its companion pedestal French, circa 1880

both signed by H. DESPREZ decorated with a continuous painted scene depicting Jeanne d' Arc victorious entry in the town of Orleans, the lid with interlaced L and the letter B and inscription Entree de Jeanne d' Arc a Orleans 1429 in red glaze.

From the age of fourteen Jeanne d' Arc (1412/1431), had claimed to hear the voices of Saints Michael, Catherine of Alexandria, and Margaret of Antioch, all encouraging her to fight the English and save France. Most of the people to whom she spoke about these supernatural experiences were incredulous, but one local commander believed her when she described the holy voices that had addressed her. The story then reached the French Dauphin, who was also persuaded that the voices that she continued to hear were messages sent from God. She was therefore allowed to ride at the head of the French army that departed from Blois in April 1429, wearing armour so brightly polished that it shone white in the sun. She led the French troops into battle, and successfully relieved the English siege of the city of Orléans. There followed a further successful campaign in the Loire valley, and then in July she conducted the dauphin to his coronation as Charles VII at Rheims.

Having in effect salvaged the French military position at a crucial stage in the Hundred Years War, Joan attempted to withdraw, but was not allowed to return to her home at Domrémy in the Meuse valley. Wounded and defeated in battle near Paris, she then joined in an attempt to relieve Compiègne, which was under siege by the Burgundians. Captured, she was sold by the Duke of Burgundy to the English. Imprisoned and accused of witchcraft, she was tried by a court of French churchmen. She conducted her own defence, but was undone by the cunning arguments of the Bishop of Beauvais. Convicted as a heretic, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake at Rouen on 30 May 1431, her ashes being thrown into the Seine. In 1456, she was exonerated by an ecclesiastical court, and in 1920 she was canonized by Pope Benedict XV.