Enamels of Limoges1996

Limoges enamels, the richest surviving corpus of medieval metalwork, were renowned throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. Yet today they are little known outside academic circles. The present volume, published in conjuction with the exhibition Enamels of Limoges, 1100-1350, brings to deserved public attention nearly two hundred of the most important and representative examples from the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Musee du Louvre, the great church.

Treasuries of France, and other sources. The works of Limoges were created for important ecclesiastical and royal patrons. The wealth of enameling preserved from the Treasury of the abbey of Grandmont, just outside Limoges, is due chiefly to the Plantagenet patronage of Henry II and his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Enamels...