Circle of Pseudo-Monvaern, French, Limoges, circa 1500, Plaque with the Annunciation, the angels banderole inscribed: AVE GRACIA PLENA in brown-red enamel and the canopy above the Virgin:MARIA MATER GRACIEMA in gilding, partially gilt painted enamel on copper, in a painted wood frame; plaque: 21.3 by 18.3cm., 8 3/8  by 7¼in.; frame: 27 by 24cm., 10 5/8  by 9 3/8 in. Estimation 10,000 — 20,000 GBP - Lot. Vendu 27,500 GBP. Photo Sotheby's

Note: The name Pseudo-Monvaerni derives from the inscription MONVAERNI on a triptych now in the Taft Museum in Cincinnati (inv. no. 1931-268). Since the inscription is not a signature the artist responsible for the triptych is now referred to as Pseudo-Monvaerni or the Monvaerni Master. Pseudo-Monvaerni is recognised as one of the first of the artists working with painted enamel in Limoges, arriving there some time around 1460-1480. Art historians have attributed an extraordinary number of enamels to the master since he was first named on the basis of the Taft triptych in the 1840s, leaving a rather incoherent body of work. Here the florid patterning of the background and gilding on the drapery, the linear rendering of the faces, hands and the drapery on an opaque white ground, and the distinctly Gothic composition remind in part of such plaques as the Flagellation in the Louvre (inv. no. OA6309E) or The Nativity from Cracow illustrated by Marquet de Vasselot (op.cit., pl. XIV). However, this lot does not possess the yellows and greys, paillons, and slightly grotesque facial features that seem to characterise the more securely attributed plaques. Perhaps most closely related to our Annunciation isSaint Martin the Beggar in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. no. 41.100.212).

The composition derives from Israhel van Meckenem's engraving of the Annunciation which, in turn, is a reversed version of a print by Martin Schongauer. Another early enameller, The Master of the Louis XII triptych, also referred to Van Meckenem's Annunciation (see Victoria and Albert Museum, inv. no. 552-1877).

RELATED LITERATURE
J. J. Marquet de Vasselot, Les émaux limousins de la fin du XVe siècle et de la première partie du XVIe, Paris, 1921, pp. 236-237, no. 43, pl. XIV; S. Baratte, Les émaux peints de Limoges, cat. Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2000, pp. 30 and 33

Sotheby's. Old Master Sculpture and Works of Art, 9 juillet 2015 - Londres