Page 143 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

Sculpture produced under Burgundian inspiration ADMINISTRATOR OF THE MASTER MILITARY ORDER OF
is distinguished by a certain archaic aspect, with AVIS FIRST-BORN SON OF THE INFANTE DOM PEDRO OF
features such as accentuated drapery folds, deli- BRILLIANT MEMORY WHO WAS FOR NINE YEARS REGENT
cate mouths, and melancholy expressions. In OF THIS REIGN AND WAS MADE FOR THE BONES OF THE
Saint Michael, the schematic anatomical render- BLESSED PETER AND PAUL APOSTLES AND FOR OTHER
ing of the figure's hands creates an incongruous PRECIOUS RELICS AND FOR THE RELIC OF THE LORD'S
effect, almost of coarseness, which is accentuated CROSS) caravel (assayer's mark of the city of Lisbon,
marks:
by the marked rigidity of the shield with its Victoria and Albert no. 2535): "IM" (unidentified,
heraldic cross. goldsmith, Victoria and Albert no. 2/33AJ; "i"
The devotion to the archangel Saint Michael (unidentified, appraiser, Victoria and Albert no.
(described in the Apocalypse of Saint John xn, 27063)
7-10 as the chief of the celestial militia arrayed references: Estago 1625; Roiz 1631; Keil 1938; Rego
against satan) has always been great in Portugal. 1730; Martinez 1940, 1942; Chico 1948; Santos and
According to tradition, Dom Afonso Henriques, Quilho 1953; Couto and Gongahes 1960; Ferro and
the first king of Portugal, was baptized in the Avelar 1983; Marques 1987
chapel of Saint Michael in the castle of Guimaraes. Church of Nossa Senhora da Ourada f Aviz
He later dedicated to Saint Michael the private
chapel of the royal palace in Coimbra, as well as
other chapels, such as those in the monastery of While the shape of this object, as well as its lock,
Santa Cruz de Coimbra, in the fortress at San- which is made up of two latches, indicate that it is
tarem, and in the Cistercian Abbey of Santa Maria a reliquary, its models are those cases that are
de Alcoba^a. When Dom Dinis began to spend miniature versions of gothic cathedrals. It resem-
more time in Lisbon and built his residence in the bles those architectonic reliquaries, a vestige of
castle, he, too, erected a chapel (1299) dedicated which remains in the border of battlements sur-
to Saint Michael, like the one in the palace of rounding the top part of the cover. A crucifix
Coimbra. originally was at the center of the cover, but it was
Dom Pedro's father, the infante Dom Pedro removed in the seventeenth century and replaced
known as das Sete Partides because of his cosmo- by the rocky coping from which a skull emerges.
politan manner and extensive knowledge, adopted The need to explain the contents of the reliquary
as his emblem a pair of scales to which he added and the teratological obsession of baroque culture
the motto DESIR (desire). One can discern a dual- led to the replacement of the crucifix. Crucifixes
ity of purpose in this selection, on the one hand often appear atop thirteenth- and fourteenth-
associated with ethical and proper conduct, and on century enameled reliquaries from Limoges,
the other with the scale, the symbol of justice, which were very popular in Portugal. It is likely
which is also the symbol of Saint Michael. The that they served as a source of inspiration for
Infante Dom Pedro dedicated his altar in the Portuguese artists.
Chapel of the Founder at the monastery of Batalha This piece is described succinctly by Jorge Roiz
portal of Reims Cathedral, the high point of the to Saint Michael. Dom Manuel i was also thinking in his Regra da Cavalaria e Ordem Militar de S.
attempt in Gothic sculpture to capture human of the archangel's patronage when he asked Pope Bento de Avis (Rules of the Knighthood and Mili-
expression in the representation of the divine. Leo x to authenticate the feast of the Guardian tary Order of Saint Benedict of Avis, printed in
This led to the creation of hybrid sacred and pro- Angel of the Kingdom, celebrated on the third Lisbon in 1631) as "a box of gilt silver" for keep-
fane examples, whose elegance appeals to an Sunday of July. J.T. ing "the most Sacred Relic, which is in the con-
earthly taste, without emphasizing the religious vent of the Holy Rood of Christ, and the bones of
dimension. In the case of Saint Michael, the Saints Peter and Paul." The inscription on the
sacred element is conveyed by the figure's spiri- ledges of the cover confirms this function. The
tual restraint and by the very size of the wings, sides of the coffer are decorated elaborately with
which are appropriate for this Biblical being. small rosettes, reminiscent of the ornamentation
Another source of inspiration was small-scale of the Limoges reliquaries. On the front of the
French Gothic sculpture, works in ivory which 23 reliquary, in relief, are the figures of Saint
were produced mostly for private devotion and RELIQUARY CHEST Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Benedict. Saint
which often depicted the Virgin and Child. They Catherine is depicted with her most common
contributed their best-known characteristic, an Portuguese attributes: the wheel of knives, the instrument of
effect of elegance. The third influence on this c. 1460 her torture as ordered by the Emperor Maxentius
work came from Burgundian art. Burgundy had silver-gilt, engraved and repousse in the early fourth century A.D., and the execu-
3
7
7
emerged in the fifteenth century as one of the 38 x 15 x 29 (14 /s x 5 /s x n /s) tioner's sword; the demon's head crushed under
most important commercial and cultural centers inscribed on the ledges of the cover: HESTA ARCA her feet seems instead to recall the attributes of
of Europe. It was there that the "International MANDOV FAZER HO CLARO E MVI NOBRE DOM PEDRO quite a different saint, Catherine of Siena (c.
P'.MOGENITO
MESTRADO
DO
REGEDOR
AVIS
FILHO
Style'' gained momentum, with nuances that were IF ANTE DON P°. DE CLARA D. MEMORIA REJENTE QVE FOI DO 1347-1380). Saint Benedict (c. 480-547), the
different from the style prevailing in France. The NOVE ANOS DESTE REINO E FOI FEITA PERA OS OSSOS founder of the Benedictines, the oldest of the reli-
marriage of the Infanta Dona Isabel, daughter of DOS BENAVENTURADOS PEDRO E PAVLO APLLOS E PERA gious orders, appears as a bishop of the church
Dom Joao i, to Philip the Good of Burgundy in OUTRAS RELIQAS PRECIOSAS E PERA HO LENHO DO wearing a dalmatic, decorated with a cross of Avis,
1428 strengthened the ties between Portugal and SENHOR (THIS CHEST WAS MADE AT THE BEHEST OF THE and a mitre; in his right hand he holds the book
Burgundy, leading to increased artistic influence. ENLIGHTENED AND VERY NOBLE MAN DOM PEDRO and in his left the crozier. At the center is the
142 CIRCA 1492