French school of the XIXth century in the style of the work - Lot 64

French school of the XIXth century in the style of the work of Limoges of the XIIIth century Staff decorated with a scene of Saint Michael slaying the dragon Copper champlevé, engraved, chased, enamelled and gilded, insertion of small pearls Height: 32 cm Small accidents and missing parts Related work : Crosier representing Saint Michael, Limousin, 13th century, Cupra-Marittima church (Italy, Marche), prov. Ascoli Piceno. Related literature: J.J Marquet de Vasselot, Les Crosses limousines du XIIIème siècle, Paris, Firmin-Didot, 1941, VII-396, Plate XVIII, photo 124. This crosier, a piece of finely worked silverware, consists of a cylindrical sleeve decorated with graceful enamel palmettes, topped by a blind knot with fantastic animal motifs, on which a crested scroll ending in a snake's head rests on a collar with large leaves. In the centre of the scroll is a scene in the round, of St Michael slaying the dragon. The importance of this work reveals the survival of a craft and a taste for the production so characteristic of the "Oeuvre de Limoges" of the medieval period. In his fundamental work on 13th century Limousin staffs, Jean-Joseph Marquet de Vasselot lists forty-six works featuring this iconography of Saint Michael slaying the dragon, the most common subject on medieval episcopal staff decorations. A crosier preserved in the Cupra-Marritima church, in the Marche region of Italy, presents all the traditional iconographic elements, highly institutionalized, that we find here. Composed of all the emblems of the fight against evil, the crosseron shows the archangel Saint Michael defeating the dragon, symbol of the devil, thus conferring on the bishop the value of defender of the Good, in the line of the apostles. Our goldsmith's piece is a reworking of this emblematic crosier. Of high quality, it is part of the corpus of copies of liturgical objects made in the 19th century. Indeed, the craze for Limousin enamel pieces goes hand in hand with a progressive rediscovery of the art of the Middle Ages which reached its peak in the middle of the 19th century, also accentuated by a new attraction for the art of enamel. All these elements combined to create a growing demand from collectors. Dealers specialized in reproductions were born to satisfy the demand of the amateurs of these exceptional pieces. Our stick is a testimony of this craze in the 19th century. Expert : Cabinet Sculpture et Collection + 33 (0)6 86 28 70 75