Burgundian, early 15th century

double sided of oval form, each side with hinged rock crystal cover, one side enclosing a cross shape relic, the other with an enamelled group of the Virgin and Child emerging from rippling blue and white clouds below, above applied with the figure of a kneeling angel enamelled in white, his robe with blue flowers, his head later applied with suspension loop  

Louis de Beauveau (1409-1462) Senechal of Anjou and by descent until the late 19th century, sold in these rooms 11th December 1986, lot 201
S.J.Phillips

R.W.Lightbown,  Mediaeval European Jewellery, 1992, pages 215-216

Discussed by Lightbown in his 1992 publication this finely wrought pendant is a rare example of the intricate technique known as email en ronde bosse where miniature sculptures are wholly or partly coated in enamel. Popular from the second half of the fourteenth century, initially in Paris, extant examples are rare.  

Closest to the present example is the pendant jewel of the Virgin Lactans in the Treasury of the Abbey de Fleury, Saint-Benoit sur Loire exhibited in Fastes du Gothique, the Virgin and Child in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. no 829-1891) and the pendant triptych formerly in the collection of Mrs P Phillips and illustrated by Lightbown and by Evans. The rippling clouds beneath the Virgin compare closely with those found beneath the angels flanking Christ in the triptych reliquary pendant in the Schatzkammer of the Residenz, Munich attributed by Lightbown to a Paris workshop of circa 1400.

Around the relic the stylized vine leaves wrought against a hatched ground are a design which Lightbown describes as typically French. The concave curve of the frame may have been set with pearls with the five projecting sockets around possibly for stitching to clothing for extra security.

RELATED LITERATURE:
Lightbown,  plate 68
Les Fastes du Gothiques, no. 220
J.Evans, plate 26 B-D