Panel
- Place of origin:
Ile-de-France, France (made)
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
- Materials and Techniques:
Stained and painted glass
- Credit Line:
Given by Mrs Charles S. Bird
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
Sacred Silver & Stained Glass, room 84, case S1
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Figurative stained-glass windows were often ‘framed’ with highly decorated borders, such as we see here. Running patterns of foliage were the most popular. Sometimes these patterns are quite distinctive and can be traced to a specific place.
This panel originally formed part of the border that ran around the outside of a large window dedicated to the Infancy of Christ. It was in the chapel of the Virgin in the choir of the abbey church of Saint-Denis, near Paris. The window told the story of Christ’s childhood and the life of the Virgin Mary.
Saint-Denis was an important and powerful abbey in France. From the 7th century the kings of France were buried in the abbey church. In the 1790s, during the French Revolution, the abbey was closed down, like so many other religious institutions.
The furnishings of the church, including the stained glass, were removed at that time. Some were some destroyed, some were sold to private collectors and others found their way into museum collections. By about 1900 this panel had found its way to America. With a number of other panels, it was made up into a window and inserted into an outhouse of a mansion in New England. The owner gave the glass to the V&A.
Physical description
Pattern of interlacing bands with foliage. Red and blue backgrounds with white and yellow bands and green, white, yellow and purple foliage. From the top: white bands forming a cross interlace with a yellow circle and travel downwards as S-scrolls. This pattern is repeated in reverse. The foliage occupies the area of the S-scrolls only.
Place of Origin
Ile-de-France, France (made)
Date
ca. 1140-ca. 1144 (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Stained and painted glass
Dimensions
Height: 78.8 cm, Width: 17.5 cm
Object history note
Made as part of the border for the Infancy of Christ window at the Abbey of St Denis between about 1140 and 1144. The window was removed in 1799 and by the late-19th century this section of border was in Ipswich, Massachusetts. The border section was saved with other substantial fragments when the house in which they were installed burnt down in 1914. The resulting composite window was installed in an old laundry on the estate and only removed in 1982 when gifted to the V&A. The various parts of this composite window are the V&A objects C.2 to 7-1983.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Caviness, Madeline H. Some Aspects of Nineteenth Century Stained Glass Restoration: Membra Disjecta er Collectanea; Some Nineteenth-century Practices. In: Moore, Peter. ed. Crown in Glory: A Celebration of Craftsmanship-Studies in Stained Glass. Norwich, 1982. pp.69-72. ISBN 071170029X.
Discusses the journey of the fragments to America within the context of early-nineteenth century restoration in France.
Williamson, Paul. The Medieval Treasury: The Art of the Middle Ages in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London, 1986. pp.118-119. ISBN 0948107383.
Discusses only this object (not Bird gift as a whole).
Colour illustration.
Williamson, Paul. Medieval and Renaissance Stained Glass in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London, 2003. ISBN 1851774041
Labels and date
BORDER PANEL
The panel comes from the border of a window dedicated to the Infancy of Christ in the church of Saint-Denis, north of Paris. This church, largely built by the famous Abbot Suger and consecrated in 1144, was to prove hugely influential in the development of a new style - Gothic. The type of decoration employed for the panel here, consisting mostly of flowering petals and ribbons, became widespread, as may be seen in the later border panels displayed above.
France (Paris), 1140-44
Museum nos. C.2-1983; given by Mrs Charles S. Bird [(PW) 2003]
Production Note
Reason For Production: Commission
Materials
Stained glass
Techniques
Painted
Subjects depicted
Flower; Ribbon
Categories
Religion; Christianity; Stained Glass
Production Type
Unique
Collection code
CER
