LOT 0355

Medieval Four Basse-Taille Plaques from a Processional Cross Depicting Four Evangelists

CATALONIA, CIRCA 1400-1420 A.D.

2 in. (26 grams total, 48-50 mm).

Group of four quatrefoil plaques, each with a hole to the end of each arm for attachment and detailed enamelled image of an evangelist's emblem (man, lion, eagle, calf) on a deep blue field. [4, No Reserve]

with Galerie Charles Ratton, 2021.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12058-217470.

Cf. Vinycomb, J., Fictitious and Symbolic Creatures in Art, London, 1909, p.54; De Sanjosé Llongueras, L. & Olucha Montins, F., ’Una aproximacion a la orfebreria de los siglos XIV (segunda mitad), XV y XVI en las tierras de el Maestrat i Els Ports (Castellon)’ in Various, Pulchra Magistri. L’esplendor del Maestrat a Castelló. Culla, Catí, Benicarló, Generalitat Valenciana, 2013, pp.187-219, p.193, a Crucifixion with four quatrefoil plaques of the Evangelists.

From the 4th century A.D., the vision of Ezekiel and John's Apocalypse, assigned the lion, the angel, the eagle, and the ox a place in the iconography of the Tetramorph to represent the four evangelists. Therefore, during the Middles Ages and until today, the evangelists' emblems are: Matthew represented by an angel, Mark by a lion, Luke by a calf and John by an eagle. Strangely, in this set the image of an angel holding a scroll bears the inscription 'Marcus' (St Mark). These quatrefoils were usually decorating caskets keeping relics of saints, holy books or crosses.