Oval Locket with the Four Elements

Description This very refined painted enamel represents female personifications of the four Elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. It was probably produced in the French city of Blois, possibly in the Toutin family workshop, which had developed new techniques that permitted the use of a white background for enamels instead of the earlier black or dark blue. The locket contained a watercolor miniature of a lady (by another artist) and could have been worn on a chain around the neck or hung from a sash or girdle.

Provenance George Robinson Harding, London; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1910, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1910