by Anne Doridou-Heim
Master of the Aeneid, Limoges, c. 1525-1530. Les Bocages fortunés (The Rich Groves), enamel plate painted in polychrome on copper and silver flecks with gilt highlights, gilt calf frame, crimson velvet interior (French work from the first half of the 17th century), the plaque measuring 22.5 x 19.8 cm/8.9 x 7.8 in. Estimate: €200,000/300,000
Not seen at auction for 129 years, this enamel plaque has now re-emerged from a distant past, after a long saga marked by unveiled intrigues and mysteries still to be elucidated. Here we see an intriguing and fascinating object from the repertory of the goldsmith-enamelers of the Limoges workshops. Though other enamels from the opus lemovicense (Limoges work) were inspired by Virgil's Aeneid, the scale of this body of work is unparalleled in Limoges enameling, at a time when enamelers had achieved a rare level of excellence in the technique of enamel painting on copper. Read more
