A gilt copper champleve enamel châsse with the martyrdom of st. thomas becket, Limoges, circa 1200-1210

the front panel with St. Thomas before the altar with arms outstretched while being beheaded with a sword, a further attacker behind, the front roof panel with a bearded martyr in a mandorla supported by two angels, suspension loop above, the end panels with a saint within an aedicula, the figures with applied heads, the back with quatrolobe flowerheads within circular frames enclosing a hinged door and revealing original wooden core, the base of brass and with five large collets for jewels now missing.

Mrs. B. Silvertoe, England, sold Sotheby's London, May 18, 1967, lot 28

Sold, Sotheby's London, July 6, 1989, lot 14

Sold, Sotheby's London, July 9, 2002, lot 9

M.M. Gauthier, 'Emaux Méridionaux, Catalogue international de l'Œuvre de Limoges', Bulletin de la Société archéologique et historique du Limousin, vol. CXXI, 1993, p. 70.

 

RELATED LITERATURE

T. Borenius, 'The Murderers of St. Thomas Becket in Popular Tradition', Folklore, June 1932.

S. Caudron, 'Les Châsses de Thomas Becket en émail de Limoges', Thomas Becket, Actes du colloque international de Sedières, 19-24 août 1973, 1975, pp. 233-41, pls. v-viii.

M.M. Gauthier, 'La meutre dans la cathédral, thème iconographique médiéval', Thomas Becket, Actes du colloque international de Sedières, 19-24 août 1973, 1975, pp. 247-53.

L'Œuvre de Limoges', Emaux limousins du Moyen Age, Musée du Louvre, exh. cat., October 23, 1995-January 22, 1996, Metropolitan Museum, New York, March 4-June 16, 1996, Paris 1995.

Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered on December 29, 1170 by four knights on the orders of King Henry II.  Shortly afterwards, miracles were reported, and in February 1173 Thomas Becket was canonized.  The martyrdom became a highly popular subject on Limoges reliquary châsses,  of which fifty-two, the majority of which are in public collections, are listed in the Corpus des Emaux Méridionaux, with the present example in volume two of the series.  Dated on stylistic grounds from between 1180 and 1220, the first casket is thought to be the large Becket châsse, dating from between 1180-90, sold at Sotheby's London on July 4, 1996, lot 7 and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum.  That probably contained the relic of St. Thomas at Peterborough Abbey (Caudron, op. cit., 1977) and it is believed that all of the caskets would have originally contained relics.  Caudron and Gauthier (op. cit.) suggested that these caskets related to fundraising for the translation of the Martyr into a new shrine, a project which was being discussed in 1185 and was completed in 1220. 

The applied heads on this casket suggest a date in the early years of the thirteenth century.  Normally caskets included the Martyrdom on the front panel and the Entombment or Apotheosis on the front roof panel.  Here, however, in the depiction of the Apotheosis, the bearded figure is closer to representations of Christ; furthermore, in the Martyrdom scene he is clean shaven.  Another unusual feature is the conversion of the châsse, in the later Middle Ages, as a hanging reliquary, a precaution to foil mice.  Here, a suspension loop has been attached, the feet removed, new hinges provided as well as a fastening for the door, and a copper base plate which would have been mounted with jewels has been added on the underside.