Plaque depicting The Annunciation
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Rectangular enamel plaque depicting The Annunciation of the Virgin Mary set in a wooden and gilt frame covered with red velvet. Gabriel, on the right, bows and offers a lily. He wears a blue gown, purple tunic and green scarf. The Virgin kneels on the left before a prie-dieu. Gabriel points up towards God who appears at the top between parted clouds. The dove of the Holy Spirit flies in the centre, surrounded by rays of light, some of which reach towards the Virgin. Behind there is a canopied bed and fireplace. In the background, there is an open door with countryside beyond.
Marking a turning point in the production of Limoges painted enamels, Suzanne de Court's distinctive style is present in the gleaming gold highlights set against a dark ground on this plaque depicting the Annunciation. Part of a series depicting the Life of Christ, it is paired with the Nativity at Waddesdon (acc. no. 3163.2). Her prominent signature on this and other pieces is the only proof for a female enameller working in 17th-century Limoges.
The Annunciation is a well-preserved example which displays to great effect the characteristics of de Court's work, including details such as the eyelash-shaped gold highlights sprinkled upon the background, and most particularly her unusual profiles, in which the nose is attached directly to the forehead. As there are no certain biographical details, her work is dated stylistically, and marks an important shift in style circa 1600. While Master I.C.’s (active c. 1550-75) profiles and dark palette are similar to hers, the striking whiteness of her flesh tones marks her out.
The composition is cleverly adapted from a print by the Netherlandish engraver Cornelis Cort (1533-1578). This was itself modelled on work by the Italian miniaturist Giulio Clovio (1498 – 1578). De Court reversed the composition and altered the gaze of the Virgin on the prie-dieu, so that she looks downward. She centred the dove in a way which, surrounded by the gold rays the medium allows, make it a focal point. A variety of print sources and engravers served as the basis for her invention, but de Court made them her own, adding such details as the vine covered columns and patterned floor tiles that appear in the Annunciation as well as in other plaques of the series. Her signature is integrated into the surface of the prie-dieu, perhaps related to engravers working their monogram into the picture field.
A full signature as appears here would be an important find on any Limoges enamel of the period, as to sign one’s work in full, rather than with a monogram, was by no means common. But to sign as a woman enameller is without precedent. It is the only reason that we know she existed. This signature, accompanied by its ‘f.’, for 'fecit' - Latin for 'made this' -, indicates that de Court saw herself as a learned individual, perhaps more as an artist than an artisan (see Beyssi-Cassan, 2006, pp. 133-137). Her identity is somewhat uncertain and it is not clear why she, a woman, was running a workshop. There are precedents of female contemporaries taking over businesses when widowed. Her originality and assertiveness suggests that she was more than just a stand-in for a dead husband however.
De Court used the same composition and iconography as this Annunciation for plaques of different sizes and dimensions, such as the oval version in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (acc. no. 44.191, ex. Spitzer collection); an oval plaque (sold, anon. sale, Paris, December 1890, lot 2; and 30 January 1892, lot 1); a slightly larger rectangular plaque (Minneapolis Art Institute, acc. No. 35.7.15) and one of unknown size (sale of Madeleine S. Stern Collection, Anderson Galleries, New York, 4-7 April 1934, lot 804). It was common practice for workshops to re-use designs in order to speed up the production process. However, de Court also developed other versions of the theme, as in the Annunciation plaque in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (acc. no. M.42-1904). A plaque by Jean Limosin (active 1597-1619), dated 1605, may have been based on Suzanne's invention (Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, acc. no. 44.346).
Recently discovered receipts show that Alice de Rothschild bought the Annunciation and Nativity plaques as a pair from Durlacher Bros., a London antiques dealer, in 1917. Most of the enamels now in the Bachelors' Wing were purchased by Alice to replace the Smoking Room items donated as part of the Waddesdon Bequest to the British Museum at the death of her brother in 1898. Alice had been collecting Limoges enamels from 1904, and concentrated her attention on mirror backs. She had already purchased several by Suzanne de Court (acc. nos 4134-4135).
The Annunciation and Nativity were originally part of a larger series on the Life of Christ. The series probably included 'Christ Delivered to the People, or Ecce Homo' (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, acc. no. 45.60.7); and 'The Last Supper' (Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig, inv. no. Lim 38), both of which are numbered in gold. Other plaques include one of Pentecost (sold Sotheby’s London, 27th April 1965, lot 8, ill.); and the 'Adoration of the Magi' which, like the Annunciation, is signed in full (Ducatel sale, Paris, 21-26 April, 1890, lot 156, ill.). This appears to be the same plaque that was once in the collection of Max von Goldschmidt-Rothschild (1843 – 1940) (sold Parkes-Bernet Galleries, New York, 10-11 March 1950, lot 71, ill.).
Religious series were widespread in both print and in enamel. A decline in aristocratic and royal patronage in the 17th century meant that enamellers diversified into objects with a domestic function and plaques got smaller. It is unclear how such plaques would have been displayed. Inventories indicate they could be hung in frames that held several plaques of varying subject matter, or they were stored in cabinets or desks (Beyssi- Cassan, 2006, pp. 251-252).
Michaela Daborn, 2015
Dimensions (mm) / weight (mg)
254 x 200 (sight size); 300 x 248 (with frame); weight 620g. (with frame)
Marks
SVSANNE COURT.F.
Maker's mark
[lower left]
Labels
TL R
Label
[on verso]
Provenance
- Acquired from Durlacher Bros., 142, New Bond Street, along with the Nativity (acc. no. 3163.2), 2 August 1917, for £2000.0.0 (receipt AR035) by Alice de Rothschild (b.1847, d.1922); inherited by her great-nephew Mr James de Rothschild (b.1878, d.1957); accepted by The Treasury Solicitor in lieu of taxes on the Estate of Mr James de Rothschild in 1963; given to Waddesdon (National Trust) in 1990.
Exhibition history
- Waddesdon Manor, Riches of the Earth, 25 March 2015-29 October 2017.
Collection
- Waddesdon (National Trust)
- Accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to the National Trust for display at Waddesdon Manor, 1990
Bibliography
- Philippe Verdier; The Walters Art Gallery - Catalogue of the Painted Enamels of the Renaissance; Baltimore; Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery; 1967; p. 338.
- R J Charleston, Madeleine Marcheix, Michael Archer, Anthony Blunt; Glass and Enamels: The James A de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor; Fribourg; Office du Livre; 1977; pp. 386-387, cat. no. 25.
- Irmgard Müsch; Maleremails des 16 und 17 Jahrhunderts aux Limoges; Braunschweig; Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum (Braunschweig); 2002; p. 240.
- Clare Vincent; A Fascinating Fragment of a piece of a watchcase by Susanne de Court; Objets d'Arts. Mélanges en l’honneur de Daniel Alcouffe, Dijon, Éditions Faton, 2004; 124-132; p. 125.
- Maryvonne Beyssi-Cassan; Le métier d'émailleur à Limoges XVIe - XVIIe siècle; Limoges; Pulim Presses Universitaires de Limoges; 2006; p. 224, fig. 84, XXXIX.
- Sophie Mouquin; Les Arts Decoratif en Europe; Paris; Citadelles & Mazenod; 2020; p.153