There exist several other jewels, the majority of them hat-ornaments, executed in this so-called "gold wire" enamel,[142] of the same exquisite and rare style of workmanship, and all possessing a singular likeness to that at Windsor, both in the patterns of the dresses worn by the figures represented on them, and in general treatment, particularly of the hair of the figures, which is formed of ringlets of spiral twisted gold wire. Among other examples are two in the Salting Collection, another which was lately in the collection of Sir T. Gibson Carmichael,[143] and a fourth in the Cabinet des Antiques in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
The wide range of subjects chosen for hat-ornaments can best be judged from the lists of "bonnets" in Henry VIII's possession in the years 1526 and 1530, enriched with a variety of brooches.[144]
Representations of enseignes in pictures are too frequent to permit of any attempt to enumerate them. It is impossible, however, to refrain from drawing attention to the fine male portraits of Bartolommeo Veneto, an artist of marked individuality of character, who worked at Venice from about 1505 to 1530. He appears to have delighted in painting with peculiar care the beautiful enseignes worn by his sitters—attractive jewels enamelled in ronde bosse, and contemporary with the Windsor "George" and its fellows. The examples of his work that display such ornaments in the most striking manner are in the following collections: Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Dorchester House, London; the Crespi Gallery, Milan; the collection of Baron Tucher at Vienna; and the National Gallery, Rome.[145]
One of the most exquisite jewels of the Renaissance is a medallion of enamelled gold numbered 5583 in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris. It is oval, and in a space of 2 by 23⁄16 inches contains a composition of no less than twelve men and eight horses in high relief, representing a battle. Horsemen and foot-soldiers in antique armour are engaged in furious combat, and many have fallen. One horseman carries a banneret which flies in the wind. The background is enamelled green, and the figures, delicately modelled, are white, save for their armour and weapons, which are reserved in the gold. The frame of the jewel is furnished with four loops, which clearly explain its use ([Pl. XXIX, 2]). Its design offers an interesting comparison with two cameos (Nos. 643 and 644), themselves fanciful renderings of the subject of another cameo (No. 645), and an intaglio, the work of Matteo del Nassaro, in the same collection, both undoubtedly inspired by the famous painting after Raphael, known as the Battle of Constantine at the Milvian Bridge (a.d. 312), in the so-called Gallery of Constantine in the Vatican.
Among the jewels in the public collections in London, which on account of their design or form were presumably intended to be worn in the hat or cap, there are several noteworthy examples. The Wallace Collection contains a circular gold enseigne, repoussé, chased, and partly enamelled, with a representation of Judith carrying the head of Holofernes. It is probably Italian. In the Waddesdon Bequest at the British Museum is an oval badge enamelled in relief with the Judgment of Paris. It is of the same minute style of work as that of the "Battle-Piece," and is of striking similarity to a drawing by Hans Mielich, in the Royal Library, Munich.[146]
An enseigne in the Victoria and Albert Museum—perhaps the most beautiful of all, and probably the work of a Florentine goldsmith—represents the head of John the Baptist on a charger. The caput Johannis in disco, a favourite subject in mediæval art both in painting and sculpture, was also popular for personal ornaments. This symbol of the Precursor was no doubt phylacteric, for the efficacy of his intercession was most highly esteemed against epilepsy and other disorders. The enseigne in question, contemporary with one described as a "St. John's head in a dish" in Henry VIII's possession in 1530, is of gold, one and five-eighths of an inch in diameter, and shaped like a circular dish. It has a corded edge, and round the rim, in pierced and raised letters, now only partially enamelled, are the following words: non · surexsit · inter · natos · mulierum. The sunk centre is covered with translucent ruby enamel, and in the middle is the head of the saint in gold and white enamel. The head is delicately modelled, and such care has the artist displayed in its execution that he has shown above the eyebrow the gash which Herodias, according to the legend,[147] on receiving the head from Salome, inflicted on it with a pin from her hair, or with a knife seized from the table where the feast had taken place ([Pl. XXIX, 1]).
PLATE XXIX
renaissance enseignes