Cleveland Museum of Art

Twelve Medallions Mounted as a Necklace

Date

c. 1400

Medium

enameled gold, precious stones, and pearls; some later additions with modern chain

Culture

France, Paris

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

These medallions, which have loops on the backs, must have originally been sewn onto a garment or, more likely, a woman’s headpiece. In spite of the modern chain to which they are now attached, the medallions are unique items of feminine apparel from around 1400. Such items would have been well known at the courts of the Valois in Paris, Bourges, and Dijon. The central medallion with a “white lady” is enameled “in the round”––a new Parisian technique for enameling irregular or three-dimensional surfaces. Such white lady medallions are described in inventories of the period

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