St Paul thumbnail 1
St Paul thumbnail 2
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Medieval & Renaissance, Room 8, The William and Eileen Ruddock Gallery

St Paul

Enamelled Plaque
ca.1100 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This enamel roundel represents St Paul, who is identified by the inscription in Greek. Small enamel panels of this sort were incorporated into various types of object, especially book covers and icon frames. They were also sometimes re-used in new contexts - the famous Golden Altar Frontal in St Mark's, Venice, includes a number of similar Byzantine roundels. They were not made for the frontal, but were added to it, as plunder from the sack of Constantinople in 1204. Similar traces of re-use are visible on the V&A panel in the form of the two mounting holes at the top of the panel. Byzantine goldsmtihs did not pierce enamels of this sort. It is, however, impossible to date when these holes were made, and they may be as late as the nineteenth century.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleSt Paul (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Gold and cloisonné enamel
Brief description
Gold and cloisonné enamel, Byzantine Empire, Constantinople (modern Turkey, Istanbul), ca. 1100
Physical description
Square gold plaque with 'Senkschmelz' image of a half figure of St Paul. An inscription to either side of the figure names him. He holds a book in his left hand and gestures towards it with his right. His head is turned slightly to the left, and his eyes look off in that direction. There are two holes in the plaque in the upper corners, and traces of a third hole are visible in the bottom left corner. The bottom of the plaque has been trimmed down. The surface is somewhat scratched, but the enamel itself is in good condition.
Dimensions
  • Height: 3.1cm
  • Width: 2.9cm
  • Depth: 0.1cm
Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries 2005
Marks and inscriptions
(Saint Paul's name is inscribed in Greek to either side of the figure.)
Gallery label
ST. PAUL Cloisonné enamel on gold Byzantine; 11th century
Credit line
Transferred from the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street
Object history
Transferred from the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street

Historical significance: Enamels on precious metal decorated objects of the highest status. As they could easily be incorporated into different types of setting, they were often re-used in new contexts as time went on. This was exactly the kind of portable object which made its way into the West during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, a process that received its ultimate expression in the Fourth Crusade's sack of Constatinople at the instigation of the Venetians in 1204.
Historical context
This enamel is of a type usually referred to as the 'typical' Byzantine enamel. In other words, it is set into a metal plaque, in this case gold, where the outlines of the figure and of the inscription are depressions in the metal. Within the depression, gold wires have been used to form the compartments for the enamel to fill. This type of enamel, a combination in effect, of cloissoné and champlevé, produces a figure on a gold metal ground, and is sometimes referred to by the German term 'Senkschmelz'. Researchers now believe that the earliest example of this technique occurs on the reliquary of the True Cross in the cathedral treasury at Limburg an der Lahn, made 963-989. The technique remained popular in the Byzantine world into the twelfth century.

The St Paul was probably one of a series of panels, and indeed, close similarities have been noted between the V&A enamel and another now in the Martin d'Arcy Collection, Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago.

Small enamel panels of this sort could be incorporated into various kinds of objects, especially book covers, icon frames and the like. They were also often re-used in new contexts - for example, the famous 'pala d'oro' of San Marco, Venice, includes a number of Byzantine roundels of apostles broadly comparable to the V&A St Paul. They were not made for the pala, but were incorporated into it, probably at the time of the pala's renewal in the early thirteenth century, with plunder from the sack of Constantinople in 1204. Similar traces of re-use are visible on the V&A panel in the form of the two mounting holes at the top of the panel (there are traces of a third mounting hole, now trimmed away from the lower edge of the panel). Enamels of this sort were not pierced by Byzantine goldsmiths in order to be mounted. It should, however, be noted that there is no way of dating the holes on the V&A enamel, which may be as late as the nineteenth century.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This enamel roundel represents St Paul, who is identified by the inscription in Greek. Small enamel panels of this sort were incorporated into various types of object, especially book covers and icon frames. They were also sometimes re-used in new contexts - the famous Golden Altar Frontal in St Mark's, Venice, includes a number of similar Byzantine roundels. They were not made for the frontal, but were added to it, as plunder from the sack of Constantinople in 1204. Similar traces of re-use are visible on the V&A panel in the form of the two mounting holes at the top of the panel. Byzantine goldsmtihs did not pierce enamels of this sort. It is, however, impossible to date when these holes were made, and they may be as late as the nineteenth century.
Collection
Accession number
4910-1901

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Record createdMarch 13, 2006
Record URL
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