French, Limoges, circa 1210-1230 | Châsse with the Martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket
Property from a Private Collection
French, Limoges, circa 1210-1230
Châsse with the Martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket
partially gilt and champlevé enamelled copper, on a partial wood core
the upper plaque on the front, the lower plaque on the reverse, and the comb are later replacements
15.8 by 15.2 by 5.6cm., 6¼ by 6 by 2¼in. overall
The lower section at the back and the comb are later replacements. The upper section at the front is also either later or associated. Otherwise the condition is good, with some wear and minor surface dirt consistent with age. There are some losses to the enamel in the martyrdom panel, notably to the background on the left side and the upper right corner and the altar. Further minor losses to the enamel on the other panels. There is minor stable craquelure to the enamel consistent with the material. The nail on the upper left corner of the martyrdom panel is replaced. There is wear to the metal, including some warping and dents as well as rubbing to the gilding. There is evidence of past worming to the partial wood core.
The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The condition report is provided to assist you with assessing the condition of the lot and is for guidance only. Any reference to condition in the condition report for the lot does not amount to a full description of condition. The images of the lot form part of the condition report for the lot. Certain images of the lot provided online may not accurately reflect the actual condition of the lot. In particular, the online images may represent colors and shades which are different to the lot's actual color and shades. The condition report for the lot may make reference to particular imperfections of the lot but you should note that the lot may have other faults not expressly referred to in the condition report for the lot or shown in the online images of the lot. The condition report may not refer to all faults, restoration, alteration or adaptation. The condition report is a statement of opinion only. For that reason, the condition report is not an alternative to taking your own professional advice regarding the condition of the lot. NOTWITHSTANDING THIS ONLINE CONDITION REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE/BUSINESS APPLICABLE TO THE RESPECTIVE SALE.
Church of Saint-Julien-de-Brioude, Saint-Vaury (Creuse), where recorded in 1862;
Mme Fayette, Limoges, by 1886;
François Baverey, Lyon, by 1960;
thence by descent;
Sotheby's Paris, 20 April 2012, lot 9
L. Guibert, Exposition retrospective de Limoges, 1886, pl. VIII;
S. Caudron, 'Les châsses reliquaires de Thomas Becket émaillées à Limoges', in Bulletin de la Société archéologique et historique du Limousin, vol. CXXI, 1993, pp. 66, 71 and 78;
S. Caudron and V. Notin, Thomas Becket et l'Oeuvre de Limoges (CD-rom, Corpus des Emaux méridionaux), Limoges, 2011, no. 45
Of the fifty-two reliquary châsses with Becket's martyrdom listed in the Corpus des Émaux Méridionaux, the majority are held in public collections. The largest and most detailed example, dated circa 1180-1190, was sold in these rooms in 1996 and is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. no. M.66-1997). In 1538 Henry VIII de-canonised Becket following the establishment of the Church of England and ordered all images of the saint to be destroyed, accounting for the relative rarity of surviving Becket imagery.
The present châsse, recorded as no. 45 in the Corpus des Émaux, has provenance dating back to the 19th century. Having remained in the vicinity of Limoges until the mid-20th century, it featured in an exhibition of enamelled metalwork in 1886. Lacking the 'classical' applique heads displayed by most early Becket caskets, the present châsse is datable to the first decades of the 13th century. In both style and design it may be compared to a Becket casket in the Louvre (inv. no. OA 7745), dated 1220-1230, which equally depicts only two assailants in the central scene, while the lid shows a half-figure of the saint in a medallion surrounded by angels, instead of the apotheosis which appears on older examples. In both caskets the figures are more freely drawn, heralding the early Gothic style. It has been argued (Taburet-Delahaye, op. cit., p. 276) that the production of these later caskets depicting Becket's martyrdom was prompted by the solemn relocation of the saint's bones into a new shrine in 1220, which enabled a renewed distribution of his relics. The figural style of the present châsse finds another convincing parallel in an early 13th-century reliquary casket published in Bertrand, op. cit., no. 14.
RELATED LITERATURE
E. Taburet-Delahaye and B. Drake Boehm (eds.), L'Oeuvre de Limoges: Emaux limousins du Moyen Age, exh. cat. Musée du Louvre, Paris and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1995, pp. 276-277, no. 85; E. Bertrand, Émaux Limousins du Moyen Age, exh. cat. Brimo de Laroussilhe, Paris, 1995, no. 14