From Limoges, a Champleve Enamel Gilt & Bronze Sword Belt Plate of a Knight of King Henry II & Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. Decorated With A Knight Combating A Beast with Spear and Shield . 1100's 'Opus Lemovicense' Crafted in Limoges, Aquitaine

12th century A.D.. Rectangular plaque with two attachment holes and flange one edge, with traces of a red and blue enamel design of a knight in combat with a beast, armed with a shield and spear, of 'opus lemovicense' { known as the “Work of Limoges"}. This belt plate was created by the same workshop and possibly the very same craftsmen that created on of the finest surviving medieval works of art, the Becket Casket, that now resides in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The belt plate contains the very same blue enamel as the Becket Casket.

A beautiful yet relatively very inexpensive example of 900 year old medieval enamel work from Limoges, in Aquitaine. Crafted from a highly technical workshop under the patronage of King Henry IInd and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine

Limoges enamels, the richest surviving corpus of medieval metalwork, were renowned throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. Yet today they are little known outside academic circles. The present volume, L'Œuvre de Limoges, published in conjunction with the exhibition Enamels of Limoges, 1100–1350, brings to deserved public attention nearly two hundred of the most important and representative examples from the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Musée du Louvre, the great church treasuries of France, and other sources. Early in the twelfth century, goldsmiths at the Benedictine Abbey of Conques in the hills of the ancient province of Rouergue began to create enamels whose jewel-like colors and rich, golden surfaces belied their fabrication from base copper. Within a generation, this technique was established in the area of the Limousin itself. By the 1160s the enamels created at Limoges, known as opus lemovicense, were a hallmark of the region. They were to be found not only in the Limousin and the neighboring region of the Auvergne but also in Paris, in monasteries along the pilgrims' road to Santiago de Compostela, at the Vatican, and in the cathedrals of Scandinavia.

The works of Limoges were created for important ecclesiastical and royal patrons. The wealth of enameling preserved from the Treasury of the abbey of Grandmont, just outside Limoges, is due chiefly to the Plantagenet patronage of Henry II and his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Enamels created during their reign resonate with the elegant style of the court, and the dramatic history of Henry's monarchy is evoked by such works as the reliquary of Saint Thomas Becket. Ecclesiastical patrons such as Archbishop Absalon of Lund, Cardinal Guala Bicchieri, and, above all, Pope Innocent III were key to the dissemination of Limoges work throughout the churches of Europe.

While few of the artists who created the enamels that have come down to us are known by name, the works of several—Master Alpais, Garnerius, and Aymeric Chretien—are here juxtaposed with related pieces, some of them demonstrably from the same atelier. Clearly, the ability of the goldsmiths of Limoges to adapt their work to meet the demands of a varied clientele was an essential element in their success. Victorines and Franciscans joined Benedictines among the patrons of Limoges. Before the middle of the thirteenth century, the goldsmiths of Limoges began to create tomb sculptures of gilt copper with enameled surrounds, the most famous being the paired images of John and Blanche of France, children of Saint Louis. Objects decorated with enameled coats of arms came into prominence at about the same time.

Eleanor of Aquitaine (1137-1152) was one of the most powerful and influential figures of the Middle Ages and Queen of both France and England. Her legendary Courts of Love were said to have established and preserved many of the rituals of courtly love and chivalry- and had a far-reaching influence on literature, poetry, music and folklore.

The Becket Casket is a reliquary made in about 1180–90 in Limoges, France, and depicts one of the most infamous events in English history, the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket. Following the assassination, relics of St Thomas were placed in similar reliquaries and dispersed across the world. This 'chasse' shaped reliquary is made of gilt-copper round a wooden core, intricately decorated with champlevé enamel to tell the story of Thomas Becket through literal and symbolic imagery. An exemplary showcasing of the Limoges enamel technique, this reliquary is now located in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England.

The Becket Casket is ornately decorated with champlevé enamel surrounding its wooden core and gilded copper interior. The decorative technique of champlevé enamel is a method in which high heat is utilized to fuse a powdered glass material into a recessed area of a metal surface.

The basic process of enameling involves fusing powdered material, such as glass, to the outer surface of a metallic or similar object through the use of high temperature. It is an ancient artistic process, used throughout history and crossing borders to create beautifully decorated pieces of all kinds. The process of champlevé enameling holds almost all of the basic steps as that of regular enameling. However in this technique, recesses of all shapes and sizes are carefully carved into the metallic body of the object and further filled with the powdered glass or frit, allowing for a different finish. The recessing in the body of the object can also be cast or etched, and the following steps remain the same.

The Becket Casket is shown in photo 8 in the gallery

See Taburet-Delahaye, E. & Boehm, B.D., L'Œuvre de Limoges, Paris, 1995,Enamels of Limoges, 1100–1350
Gauthier, Marie-Madeleine, Bernadette Barriere, Dom Jean Becquet, Elisabeth Taburet-Delahaye, Barbara Drake Boehm, Michel Pastoureau, Beatrice de Chancel-Bardelot, Isabelle Biron, Pete Dandridge and Mark T. Wypyski
1996

34mm x 34mm

Code: 25555