Large Annunciation Virgin in repoussé, engraved and gilded c - Lot 16

Large Annunciation Virgin in repoussé, engraved and gilded copper, small turquoise cabochons (two in glass) and rock crystal. Technique and description: The body, head and forearms appear to have been made from a very thick sheet of copper, hammered and embossed in high relief; another, thinner sheet of copper has been skilfully folded to form the veil around the head; the hands have been melted and fixed by a rod inserted from behind; the book, also melted separately, is held by the fingers of the left hand and the front of the chest. The slender Virgin is standing, her head turned slightly to the right; the softly waving locks of her long hair, covered by the veil, are barely visible on her forehead and the left side of her face; Mary raises her left hand in a gesture evoking an attitude of retreat, while her other hand holds a closed book, indicating that she is interrupting her reading; she is dressed in a blousante waist-length dress, tightened by a carefully detailed wrought belt, and an open cloak with the sides held in place by the forearms; Her particularly beautiful face features wide-open eyes with slightly protruding globes engraved with pupils, a well-defined mouth with a sharp upper lip, and a slightly heavy chin; the collar, belt and bottom of the tunic are adorned with quatrefoils and punctuated with turquoise cabochons, while the sleeve edges bear a braid decorated with small circles. There is a fixing hole on each side. Very fine craftsmanship. Limoges, Grandmont Abbey workshop (Haute-Vienne), circa 1220/1250 H. 28.7 cm Soclée (some wear to the gilding, one cabochon missing from the bottom of the dress) Provenance : -Acquired in the 1950s by Émile Grunspan (1890-1967), antique dealer in Paris. Works consulted: - Exposition Paris-New York 1995-1996, L'Œuvre de Limoges - Emaux limousins du Moyen Âge, Musée du Louvre - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, cat. E. Taburet-Delahaye and B. Drake Boehm. - E. Bertrand, Emaux limousins du Moyen Âge, Brimo de Laroussilhe, Paris, 1995, cat.22. - Madrid-Bruxelles-Silos exhibition 2001-2002, De Limoges à Silos, Biblioteca Nacional - Espace culturel BBL - Monastère de Saint Dominique, cat. This Virgin was most likely placed to the right of the announcing angel, on an enamelled background, forming the decoration of a large shrine, altarpiece, tabernacle or altar frontal. Databases have so far been unable to find an angel figure of comparable size and workmanship with which it could have been associated. It may still be in a private collection, like this Virgin, which has never been published. By virtue of its size, mastery of execution and particularly accomplished style, this Limoges statuette is comparable to several works associated with the workshops that worked for the Grandmont Abbey, which since the 12th century has amassed a remarkable treasure trove of Limousin enamelware. Its size is close to that of the famous Grandmont apostles, or of certain gilded copper groups such as the one representing the Virgin and six apostles in the Louvre (inv. OA 11352). Here, the embossed and engraved metalwork has been refined to a high degree. Its long barrel and turquoise-studded orphreys and braids are comparable to the elegant Christ en majesté from the former Révoil collection still in the Louvre (inv. MR R 305, fig.a), and to the seated Virgin and Child in the Cleveland Museum (inv. 1962-29, fig.b), both attributed to a Grandmont workshop, dated 1220-1235 and 1225-1250 respectively. The characteristic that the great medieval goldsmith Elisabeth Taburet-Delahaye often emphasizes concerning this production of gilded copper figures is the widening of the folds of the garments "en cuiller". This can be seen here, interpreted with great precision above the belt. A detail that sets the Grunspan Virgin apart from almost all other comparable examples is the treatment of the pupils, here simply engraved and not enamelled. A final peculiarity is the use of quatrefoils in the decoration to enhance the vestments, which are rather rare in Limoges' work, although they can be seen on the figure on the right of the Entombment from the Minneapolis Institute of Art (inv. Acc. N°588). It should be noted that this statuette, which must have belonged to an important liturgical object yet to be identified, has come down to us in a remarkable state of preservation, its gilding worn away only on the front of the tunic as a result of its many manipulations over the centuries. For all its qualities, this Virgin of the Annunciation can be