Gilded copper pyx with champlevé enamel. Limoges.... Lot 6

Gilded copper pyx with champlevé enamel. Limoges. France. Romanesque. Circa 1200 - 1225. In the shape of a cylindrical box with a conical lid, ornamented with champlevé enamel in turquoise, lapis lazuli, green, red and yellow tones. The decoration is made up of seven medallions with angels inside. Among these are continuous friezes with very stylised vegetation motifs in a symmetrical pattern, with a fleur de lis at intervals. The interior still has quite a bit of gilt residue. Flaws in the enamel and the cross that tops it off. The fastener is missing. In the Middle Ages, the Host was kept in cylindrical boxes of small dimensions, called pyxes. They were normally closed with a conical cover. Frequently they were objects of worship, suspended from chains over the altar. They were also used for bringing the Communion to invalids. Comparable pyxids, it is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of New York, with the inventory number 32.100.281 or in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. Département des Objets d'Art (OA 10027). Provenance: acquired in Sotheby's London on 2/7/1997. Reference bibliography: "De Limoges a Silos" (From Limoges to Silos). Exhibition catalogue from the Madrid - Brussels - Santo Domingo de Silos exhibition in November 2001- Abril 2002. 10 x 7 cm. “Enamels of Limoges, 1100–1350”. Gauthier, Marie-Madeleine, Bernadette Barriere, Dom Jean Becquet, Elisabeth Taburet-Delahaye, Barbara Drake Boehm, Michel Pastoureau, Beatrice de Chancel-Bardelot, Isabelle Biron, Pete Dandridge and Mark T. Wypyski. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996