LOT 0364

Medieval Bronze Limoges Eucharistic Dove

CIRCA 1200-1230 A.D. OR LATER

6 7/8 in. (662 grams, 17.5 cm).

Modelled in the round, hollow formed with stylised geometric detailing to the wings rendered in raised relief, incised detailing to the breast and head, pierced lug to neck, bowl at tail; base displaying floral scrolls with remains of blue, red and yellow Limoges enamelling; standing on a later elliptical base. [No Reserve]

Ex central London gallery.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11740-202076.

Cf. the Metropolitan Museum, New York, accession number 17.190.344, for a similar example; Walters Art Gallery, Painted Enamels of Limoges, Baltimore, 1968; Campbell, M., An Introduction to Medieval Enamels, London, 1983; Toman, R. Romanesque Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Cologne, 1997; Stratford, N., Catalogue of Medieval Enamels in the British Museum. Vol. II - Northern Romanesque Enamel, London, 1993.

Champlevé enamels were made at Limoges and in the valleys of the Rhine and Meuse from the 11th to the 14th centuries. Limoges workshops manufactured Eucharistic doves, which would have been hung over an altar as an evocation of the Holy Spirit. They were portable tabernacles, containing consecrated hosts.