Aliénor de Poitiers also says there should always be in the lady’s room a chair with a back near the bolster of the bed; and that this chair should be covered with silk or velvet, for “velvet is the most honourable covering, no matter what colour”; and “near the chair should be placed a little bench, or stool, covered with a banquier and some silk cushions for visitors to sit on when they call to see the invalid.”
The little stool or bench, called escarbeau, was very low and without back or arms. Sometimes it was triangular in form. Sometimes it served for a low table. Rich people often threw over these bancs a piece of tapestry or silk, known as banquiers.
The memory of the vast majority of the artists of this period has perished, but a few names have survived.
When Philip the Bold built a second St. Denis for his race at Dijon (1390), his art and craftsmen were all drawn from the Low Countries. Nicholas Sluter was in charge; and under his direction the Chartreuse became a veritable Flemish museum of carving. He sent for his nephew, Nicholas van de Werve, and paid him from six to seven shillings per week. Other Flemish workmen in his employ were: Jehan Malouel, Hennequin van Prindale, Roger Westerhen, Peter Linkerk, John Hulst, John de Marville, John de Beaumetz and Williken Smout. The coloured windows were made at Mechlin, by Henry Glusomack. The oak retables with their numerous figurines, were the work of a Flemish carver named Baerze of Termonde.
In fact, the only Frenchman who had any part in the work was Berthelot Héliot, “varlet de Monseigneur,” an ivory-carver.
The two retables carved by Jacques de Baerze in 1391 for the Chartreuse are now in the Dijon Museum. One was made for the Duke’s chapel at Termonde (Dendermonde), and the other for the Abbey of Billoche, near Ghent. These were painted and gilded by Jehan Malouel and Melchior Broederlam, who had been engaged by the Counts of Flanders; and worked in Hesdin and Ypres before becoming court-painters to Philip the Bold.
The same Museum contains three cylindrical boxes of beautiful workmanship of the same period. Two of these are ornamented with arabesques and birds painted and gilded; the third is decorated with polychromatic bas-reliefs, and a round boss representing scenes from the New Testament. These boxes are supposed to have belonged to the toilet-tables of the Duchesses of Burgundy. Two retables, ornamented with bas-reliefs in the Cluny Museum are called “oratoires des Duchesses de Bourgogne.” These were bought from Berthelot Héliot, “valet de chambre” of Philip the Bold; and it is thought that they came from Italy.
Another fine piece of Flemish wood-carving is preserved in the old Salles des Gardes of the Palace in Dijon, where it forms a decoration of the chimney-piece. This is a panel of carved wood, the last remnant of the choir-stalls in the ducal chapel. The centre of the panel was the back of John the Fearless’s seat. The upper part terminating in a pointed arch and bordered with festoons ornamented with foliage surrounds the Duke’s shield, which is supported by two angels. The arms of eight dependent provinces are carved in the lower part of the panel, enlaced in a trellis of mouldings decorated with chicory leaves, and further enriched by four angels playing various instruments.
The Dijon Museum contains another splendid piece of wood-carving of the same date in the seat or forme for the accommodation of the priest, deacon, and subdeacon of the Chartreuse. This was carved in 1395 by John of Liège, a carpenter, for the sum of two hundred and fifty francs, to which another hundred were afterwards added in recognition of the excellence of the work.
The forme is a species of banc divided by arms into stalls like choir-stalls. The forme always had a back which grew larger about the end of the twelfth century, and at a later date, it was surmounted by a daïs. The forme was always considered to be a seat of honour.