It would be an almost impossible task to describe all the motives selected for the English brooches of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, their numerous compositions of human figures and animals of all sorts, and the various stones with which they were set. The old inventories give endless descriptions, but hardly any actual examples, apart from the ring-brooches and William of Wykeham's magnificent nouch at New College, have survived. In the British Museum is a silver-gilt brooch in form of St. Christopher leaning on his staff and bearing the infant Saviour on his shoulder. It is of fifteenth-century workmanship, 2¾ inches long, and was found at Kingston-on-Thames ([Pl. XX, 7]). This brooch is of peculiar interest, since in the Canterbury Tales that worn by the "Yeman" is described as "A Crystofre on his brest of silvyr shene."
Brooches and nouches, mentioned frequently in the English inventories of the fourteenth century, became even more numerous and elaborate in the century following. Foreign influence, strong at this period, left its imprint upon all works of art; and the most extensive commerce was carried on with Flanders, which was then the workshop of the world. Yet though the following descriptions of brooches drawn from the inventory of Henry IV in the Inventories of the Exchequer[94] show a striking similarity to the continental jewels of the same date, there is no reason to suppose that these were not actually produced in England by English workmen. Five nouches, probably very similar in form to the splendid jewel at New College, Oxford, and dating approximately from the same period, are thus recorded: "Item v. nouches de letres M apparellez de perles et diverses peres de petit value." Other brooches exhibit a variety of forms: "Item i. gant nouche dun griffon seisant un deyme ove i. saphir en my lieu iij. baleys et vi. grosses perles"; "Item i. nouche [dor] ove i. damoysell es blancz flours portant i. papingey en la mayn apparellez ove i. baleys iij. saphis iij. troches de perles ove trois diamantz contrifaitz." Similarly enriched jewels have for their subjects: "i. enfant dor et i. blanc deime enaymellez"; "i. damoisell et i. unicorn [dor]"; and "un damoisell seant en un solaill." Finally we meet with the following entry: "Item i. nouche d'un aungell blanc tenant en sa mayn un saphir feble garnisez de vi. perles enterfoiles."
Of all the immense wealth of jewellery of the Dukes of Burgundy in the fifteenth century almost every vestige has disappeared, and the public museums of the Continent are practically destitute of Flemish-Burgundian jewellery of this date. Yet the British Museum, through the generosity of the late Sir A. W. Franks, is in fortunate possession of several exquisite examples, which were dredged a few years ago from the bed of the River Meuse. The most remarkable is a gold brooch of delicate workmanship, the centre of which is occupied by a female figure: a garland encircles her head, a flower set with a small triangular diamond adorns her breast, while her hands hold in front a large faceted sapphire. Around, in the midst of foliage, are three cabochon rubies, and the settings of other stones and pearls which have disappeared ([Pl. XX, 11]). The form of this jewel is peculiarly interesting in comparison with the above-quoted aungell tenant en sa mayn un saphir of the inventory of Henry IV. A smaller circular brooch of similar fabrique has a diamond above and a pale ruby below, and is encircled by radiating buds of flowers, the centre of each bud being formed of a ball of white enamel.
Of the few examples of jewels of similar character that exist at the present day upon the Continent, there is in the treasury of the Collegiate Church of Essen in Rhenish Prussia, amongst several fine objects of the goldsmith's art, a remarkable and comparatively unknown collection of enamelled jewels of the fifteenth century.[95] Each of the sixteen objects of the series possesses what appears to be a characteristic of most jewels of this date—that is to say, it is enclosed by an encircling wreath-like ornament of the naturalistic late Gothic style formed of a circular tube of gold to which are affixed leaves of stamped gold, enamelled and enriched with pearls. The centres of the jewels are occupied by a variety of motives. Seven are of a purely formal composition, enriched with small white flowers, the stalks of which, covered with green enamel, resemble with their interlacing design the necklace worn by Maria Portinari in the Van der Goes triptych at Florence. The remaining and more elaborate jewels contain enamelled figures of men and animals executed with extraordinary minuteness and vivacity. The finest, and on the whole the best preserved, has in the centre a female figure in full relief clothed in a white robe and long green cloak and a head-dress in the form of leaves. She is seated in a field sewn with flowers in the manner of the pictures of the period, and behind are golden rays[96] ([Pl. XX, 9]). The figure upon another jewel has a somewhat similar background. Her robe is white, and her head-dress and the edges of her wing-like sleeves red. In front of both figures is a small cluster of precious stones. Though all the objects in this remarkable collection are of about the same date, they differ sufficiently to make it clear that, like the treasures from Saragossa, they owe their presence here to the devotion of perhaps more than one wealthy person to a highly revered shrine. In spite of the fact that the majority are considerably damaged, they are yet eloquent proofs of the magnificent style of living at the period of their production, and valuable examples of the ornaments of the Middle Ages of which no other collection possesses so large and choice a variety.
Brooch of the Virgin in
Lochner's "Dombild"
(Cologne Cathedral).
In date one is disposed to place these brooches (or nouches, as they would be termed in old English inventories) in the first half of the fifteenth century—at least as far as the figured pieces are concerned, for jewellery in pictures of the second half of the century is mostly formed of pearls and precious stones alone. Jewelled brooches of this kind ornamented with figures in relief are particularly well represented in the works of the older German painters and above all those of Stephan Lochner (d. 1451), in whose masterpiece in Cologne Cathedral, known as the "Dombild," the Virgin is seen wearing on her breast a brooch ornamented with clusters of pearls and the figure of a seated maiden, with a unicorn resting one foot on her lap.[97] In another celebrated picture by Master Stephan—the "Virgin of the Rose-Arbour," in the Cologne Museum—the same subject is represented on the mandorla, or almond-shaped, brooch which closes the Virgin's robe; while in a third picture by him in the Episcopal Museum of the same city—a picture which, like the rest, bears traces of Flemish influence—the Virgin's brooch or morse is ornamented with a female figure seated, full face, after the manner of the British Museum and Essen brooches.[98]
Such is the extraordinary quality and extreme rarity of jewels of this type that attention must be drawn to yet two more examples: one in the Imperial Collections at Vienna, and the other in the Carrand Collection in the Bargello at Florence. The former is a jewel of quite remarkable character. Within the usual circle of gold wire is a pair of lovers standing side by side each holding the end of a wreath. The figures, dressed in Burgundian costume of the fifteenth century and enamelled with various colours, breathe the spirit of the mediæval amourette as represented upon ivory mirror-cases and jewel-caskets and in miniatures of the twelfth to the sixteenth century. Between them is a triangular diamond set like the example in the British Museum, and below it a pale cabochon ruby. Around are five pearls ([Pl. XX, 8]).[99] The jewel at Florence (2 inches in diameter) has a border of green enamelled leaves set with pearls, and in the centre a finely modelled figure of a dromedary in white enamel. This brooch, which is in splendid condition, was perhaps intended to be worn, as were some other of these pieces, as an enseigne on the hat or cap ([Pl. XVII, 12]).
Whatever may have been their nationality, a glance at each, from those in the British Museum to the one last described, is sufficient to determine the identity of their source of inspiration. All bear the stamp of the Flemish-Burgundian art, which throughout the fifteenth century dominated the creations of the goldsmiths, as well as the sculptors, miniaturists, and tapestry workers, of the entire west of Europe.