The composition derives from Israhel van Meckenem's engraving of the Annunciation which, in turn, is a reversed version of a print by Martin Schongauer. Another early enameller, The Master of the Louis XII triptych, also referred to Van Meckenem's Annunciation (see Victoria and Albert Museum, inv. no. 552-1877).
Stylistically the present plaque is a beautiful example from the early period of painted enamel production in Limoges. It relates to works by the artist known as Pseudo-Monvaerni, whose name derives from the inscription MONVAERNI on a triptych now in the Taft Museum in Cincinnati (inv. no. 1931-268). Pseudo-Monvaerni is recognised as one of the first of the artists working with painted enamel in Limoges, having arrived in the city sometime around 1460-1480. Art historians have attributed an extraordinary number of enamels to the master since he was first named on the basis of the Taft triptych in the 1840s, leaving a rather incoherent body of work. Here the florid patterning of the background and gilding on the drapery, the linear rendering of the faces, hands and the drapery on an opaque white ground, and the distinctly Gothic composition are reminiscent of such plaques as the Flagellation in the Louvre (inv. no. OA6309E) or The Nativity from Cracow illustrated by Marquet de Vasselot (op.cit., pl. XIV). However, the present lot does not possess the yellows and greys, paillons, and slightly grotesque facial features that seem to characterise the more securely attributed plaques. Perhaps most closely related to our Annunciation is a plaque with Saint Martin and the Beggar in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. no. 41.100.212), which incorporates a markedly similar approach to facial features, and the array and use of gilded decoration.
RELATED LITERATURE
J. J. Marquet de Vasselot, Les émaux limousins de la fin du XVe siècle et de la première partie du XVIe, Paris, 1921, pp. 236-237, no. 43, pl. XIV; S. Baratte, Les émaux peints de Limoges, cat. Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2000, pp. 30 and 33