Portrait of a Benedictine Abbot

Description The rectangular plaque shows the bust-length portrait, three-quarters face to the left, of a tonsured monk with small moustache and full chin-beard. He wears the black habit of the Benedictine order. The background is bright blue with a white line border. The enamel framework is of octagonal shape, the upper part suggesting the mask of a dragon, its wings entwined with drapery; on the lower edge, between the mitre and crozier of an abbot, a coat of arms: argent, a mount of ten peaks, in chief three billets or, one and two. In the spandrels, gilt foliage with flowers in blue, purple and green, over paillettes of foil.

Conservation

The plaque has not been on view for many years, if ever, and is being included in Living by the Book: Monks, Nuns, and Their Manuscripts, a focus show scheduled for July 13-September 15, 2013. The plaque has damages around the perimeter edge but the central image is intact and in good condition.

Recent cleaning and stabilization revealed the maker's initials IL for Jacques Laudin on the front of the plaque to the right of the coat of arms. The decoration of the miter was also altered. Cleaning revealed a white miter with three clusters of imitation gemstones.

Date	Description	Narrative
3/06/2013	Examination	Examined for exhibition
3/08/2013	Treatment	Cleaned; stabilized; loss compensation

Exhibitions

• Living by the Book: Monks, Nuns, and Their Manuscripts. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2013.

Provenance Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1908, by purchase [in New York]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Inscription] Lower center edge, near coat of arms on the front: ·I·L·; [Inscription] Faint letters on the back: [La]udin, emailleur / au faubour / de Magnine; [Translation] Laudin, enameler in the suburb of Magnine (in Limoges); [Inscription] in black letters on the back: Limoges

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1908