Large sculpted limestone head of a king, presumed... Lot 21

Large sculpted limestone head of a king, presumed to be Saint Louis. Beardless face with idealized features, eyes stretched to the temples, underlined by small crow's feet, swollen lower eyelids, slightly hollowed cheeks, thin lips and virile chin; flowery crown set on medium-length hair falling below the ears, with small fringe above the forehead and wavy locks at the temples. Picardy, circa 1300 H. 36 cm On a velvet base (accidents and minor restorations, notably to the nose). The stone has been analyzed by geologist Annie Blanc. It is a "light yellow limestone, very rich in fossils (Bivalve shells) with some remains of Milioles [...] Lutetian limestone, from a quarry far from Paris. This type of limestone is rarely used for sculpture. There is one case, to our knowledge, where sculptures were made in well-compacted shell limestone, and that is at Laon Cathedral". It is accepted that royal imagery, little developed throughout the 13th century, really took off from the date of the sovereign's canonization in 1297. The most traditionally recognized effigies of Louis IX, although sometimes disputed, date from this period, such as the one in the Musée de Cluny (inv. Cl.20626) or the one in the church of Mainneville in Normandy (fig. a and b). However, we must acknowledge the similarity of the features of this king's head from a Parisian collection with the one representing the pious sovereign on the limestone gable of the Cordeliers convent in Paris (fig. c) on display at the Musée Carnavalet, as so aptly described by the Parisian museum's curator: "ascetic beauty [...], hairless face whose hollow cheeks emphasize the very pious character [...], handsome face [...] hair detached from the face [...] in keeping with the king's appearance at the time of Saint Louis and especially that of Philip the Fair". It would seem, then, that this is yet another idealized portrait to enrich the iconography of this king, who was so highly venerated only some thirty years after his death. Provenance : - In the Parisian family of an Academician of Science, for two generations. Works consulted: - Exposition Paris 1998, L'Art au temps des rois maudits - Philippe le Bel et ses fils 1285-1328, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, cat. - Exposition Paris 2014/15, Saint Louis, La Conciergerie, cat. P-Y. Le Pogam, p 46-57.