FRANCE CHAPTER OF ALIX (1755) Rare canons' cross... Lot 41

FRANCE CHAPTER OF ALIX (1755) Rare canons' cross from the Chapter of Alix, attributed to Marie Jeanne Félicité Savelly de Caseneuve (1752-1837). In chased gold, with four white enameled double branches, interspersed with fleur-de-lys. The cross surmounted by a comtale crown held in the upper branch. Flower-shaped hoop. Double transverse ring. Enameled gold centers featuring the Virgin and Child on the obverse and Saint Denis holding his head on the reverse, on a radiating background. Obverse legend "NOBILIS INSIGNIA VOTI" and reverse legend "AUSPICE GALLIARUM PATRONO" on a blue enamel background (restorations). With an antique but later moire bow. 51 x 45 mm - Gross weight: 38 g T.B. Late 18th century. Provenance: -Descendants of Baron de Sénégra. -Marie Jeanne Françoise Savelly de Caseneuve, sister of Marie Jeanne Félicité, married Louis Antoine Dalichoux, Baron de Sénégra, Seigneur de Saint Félix, Fos and Saint Guiraud. Historical background: In 1755, the King, by letters patent of January, granted permission to the lady canonesses of Alix, in the diocese of Lyon, to wear an eight-pointed gold cross, cantoned by four fleurs-de-lis, enamelled white, edged in gold, with a medal in the middle charged with a decapitated St Denis, wearing a purple robe, a white surplice, a purple stole on a red background, with this legend "AUSPICE GALLIARUM PATRONO". On the reverse is a blue-enameled virgin holding the infant Jesus on a vert ground, surrounded by the legend "NOBILIS INSIGNIA VOTI". The cross is surmounted by a count's crown. Biography: Marie Jeanne Louise Félicité took the habit at the chapter of Alix in 1778. Her proofs of nobility were authenticated on February 10, 1783 by the Canons and Counts of Lyon, and she was received as Chanoinesse-Comtesse d'Alix. She remained with the chapter until its dissolution in 1793, when she returned to her family in Pont-Saint-Esprit. She died there in 1837.