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Lot 21

A 13th century Limoges patinated and gilt copper and polychrome champlevé enamel gemellion
French, circa 1200-1250

Amended
Important Design
25 April 2018, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £17,500 inc. premium

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A 13th century Limoges patinated and gilt copper and polychrome champlevé enamel gemellion

French, circa 1200-1250
of typical shallow dished form with figural tournament decoration, the centre depicting a knight on horseback standing on a bridge holding a sword and shield, the quatrefoil cusped border depicting four further knights on horseback holding lances and shields interspersed by four heraldic shield motifs and decorative scrolls, the rear with an engraved central shield within a lobed border,
22.5cm diameter

Footnotes

Provenance:
Liuba and Ernesto Wolf Collection, December 04, 2012

Saleroom notices

Please see below for lot footnote: Provenance Ex Liuba and Ernesto Wolf Collection Ernesto Wolf (1918-2003) made his fortune as a cotton merchant and fled Germany in 1938 to settle in Argentina and before moving to Brazil where he met his sculptor wife, Liuba. The couple amassed a number of important collections including a library of rare early books (some of which are to be sold be Bonhams in the summer), modern art, African tribal art and Byzantine and Medieval glass (subsequently bequeathed to the Landesmuseum in Stuttgart). Gemellions were shallow bowls used for the washing of hands at meal times in the homes of the wealthy during the Medieval period. Usually used in pairs, the name Gemellion comes from the Latin word gemellio meaning twin. The ceremony of hand washing was an important part of the medieval dining process. Hands were dipped into a single basin filled with water, or held above one basin whilst water was poured over them from another basin. One basin might also have a small spout from which water could be poured. Often commonly enamelled and often decorated with chivalric scenes and heraldry motifs, the use of heraldic arms on such commonly used objects, albeit in the homes of the rich shows to what extent heraldry infiltrated secular art in the medieval period. Related Literature A-C. Dionnet, D'Or et d'emaux. Les gemellions armories de Limoges clans l'embematique du XIIIe siecle', Bulletin de la societe archéologique et historique du Limousin, CXXII, 1994; J. Luckhardt und F. Niehoff, Heinrich der Löwe und seine Zeit. Herrschaft und Repräsentation der Welfen 1125-1235, exh. cat. Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig, Munich, 1995, pp. 336-339, no. E6; E. Taburet-Delahaye and B. D. Boehm, L'Oeuvre de Limoges. Emaux limousins du Moyens Age, exh. cat. Musée du Louvre, Paris, and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Paris, 1995, p. 374, no. 132

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