Mosan, circa 1160-1180

the rectangular copper plaque with reeded border centred by a roundel with red and yellow border enclosing an angel facing to the left, his hands raised, the half-figure resting on a cloud, the drapery blue, green and yellow, red cuffs to his sleeves, the roundel within a rectangular border of blue and red, in later red velvet mount

This unrecorded Mosan enamel belongs to a group of enamels strongly influenced by the surviving plaques from the St. Remaclus retable at Stavelot, which include the Operatio roundel sold in the Von Hirsch collection in 1978 and now in the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin, and a further enamel of a Virtue in Frankfurt. Compare in particular with the two champlevé enamel plaques with personifications of Faith and Religion in the British Museum and discussed in detail by Stratford. Note the youthful head of the angel with stylized line drawn hair, physiognomy, and raised hands. The polychrome of the drapery with the greens terminating in yellow, the stylized folds of the drapery and the beaded border are also closely related.

RELATED LITERATURE
Neil Stratford, Medieval Enamels in the British Museum, vol. II, London, 1993, cat.nos 11-12, pp.83-85, plate 53