Double-sided Painted Enamel and Gold Pendant: The Virgin and Christ.
French, first half of the 17th century.
Measurements
- Enamel pendant: 2.8 × 2.2 cm.
- Total weight: 6.6 g.
- Chain: English hallmarked 18 ct gold, length 44 cm.
Description
An oval, double-faced painted enamel pendant, each side bearing a bust—one of the Virgin and the other of Christ—executed in polychrome enamel with subtle modelling of flesh tones and finely drawn hair and drapery. The Virgin is shown in three-quarter view, head inclined and wearing a blue headband and mantle; Christ likewise is rendered with long, curled hair and a red cloak over a blue garment. The handling—careful stippling and thin, layerable enamel colours to render warm cheeks and soft shadows—is characteristic of early seventeenth-century French devotional miniatures.
The enamel is set within a simple gold bezel and was almost certainly intended for intimate devotional use: its scale and iconography suggest it may originally have been suspended from a rosary or worn as a personal reliquary pendant. The piece has been later mounted on a fine, hallmarked English 18 ct gold chain, making it immediately wearable while preserving the enamel as the primary focus.
Condition: unrestored and untouched; the painted surfaces retain their original enamelling in a fine state of preservation.
Comparisons
See a closely related double-sided enamel medallion with the Virgin and Christ in the collection of the British Museum (Museum no. 1978,1002.542) for comparison of iconography and technique
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