A PAIR OF CIRCULAR ENAMEL PLAQUES OF JOSHUA AND GODEFROY DE BOUILLON

These roundels would once have formed part of a larger set representing the 'Nine Worthies'. These Worthies, highly admired in the Middles Ages and frequently reproduced by Limoges enamellers, were meant to embody all the best qualities of chivalrous behaviour. Interestingly, the harp on the haunch of Godefroy's horse would normally identify him as David, one of the other Worthies. It appears that the enameller was using a stock set of images as his models and did not understand the significance of the attribute.

The attribution of the present enamels to Nouailher is based upon their close stylistic comparison to other enamels of Worthies also attributed to his hand. Examples of David and Joshua exist in the Louvre (see Baratte, loc. cit.), as well as four that recently entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (published in 'Recent Acquisitions 1992-93', The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Fall 1993, p. 31). Another pair, very similar, representing Hector and Godefroy de Bouillon, was sold from the collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé at Christie's, Paris, 23 February 2009 (lot 556).