The Arts in the Middle Ages and at the Period of the Renaissance

by P. L. Jacob

Fig. 111.—Interior of the Atelier of Etienne Delaulne, a celebrated goldsmith of Paris, in the Sixteenth Century. Designed and engraved by himself.

When Etienne Boileau, Provost of Paris in the reign of Louis IX., wrote in obedience to the legislative designs of the king, his famous “Livre des Métiers,” to establish the existence of guilds on permanent foundations, he had scarcely more to do than to transcribe the statutes of the goldsmiths almost the same as those instituted by St. Eloi, with the modifications consequent on the new order of things. By the terms of the ordinances drawn up by Louis, the goldsmiths of Paris were exempt from the watch, and from all other feudal services; they elected, every three years, two or three anciens (seniors) “for the protection of the trade,” and these anciens exercised permanent vigilance over the works of their colleagues, and over the quality of the gold and silver material used by them. An apprentice was not admitted as a master until after ten years’ apprenticeship; and no master could have more than one apprentice, in addition to those belonging to his own family. The corporation, so far as concerned the fraternity with respect to works for charitable and devotional purposes, had a seal ([Fig. 116]) which placed it under the patronage of St. Eloi; but, with regard to its industrial association, it imprinted on manufactured articles a seing, or stamp, which guaranteed the value of the metal. The corporation soon obtained, from Philip of Valois, a coat-of-arms, which conferred on it a sort of professional nobility; and acquired, owing to the distinguished protection extended to it by that king, a position which nevertheless it did not succeed in preserving in the united constitution of the six mercantile bodies; for, although it laid claim to the first rank on account of its antiquity, it was forced, notwithstanding the undeniable superiority of its works, to be contented with the second, and even to descend to the third rank.

Fig. 112.—Stamp of Lyons.		Fig. 113.—Stamp of Chartres.
Fig. 114.—Stamp of Melun.	Fig. 115.—Stamp of Orléans.	Fig. 116.—Ancient Corporate Seal of the Goldsmiths of Paris.

The goldsmiths, at the time of the compilation of the code of professions by Etienne Boileau, were already separated, voluntarily or otherwise, from several trades which had long appeared in their train; the cristalliers, or lapidaries; the gold and silver beaters; the embroiderers in orfroi (gold-fringe); the patenôtriers (bead-stringers) in precious stones lived under their own regulations; the monétaires (bullion-dealers) remained under the control of the king and his mint; the hanapiers (drinking-cup makers), the fermailleurs (makers of clasps), the pewterers, boxmakers, inferior artisans and others who worked in common metals, had no longer any connection with the goldsmiths of Paris. But in the provinces, in towns where the masters of a trade were insufficient to constitute a community or fraternity having its chiefs and its own administration, it was indispensable to reunite under the same banner the trades between which there was the most agreement, or rather the least contrariety. Thus, in certain localities in France and the Low Countries, the goldsmiths, proud as they might be of the nobility of their origin, sometimes found themselves united as equals with the

Fig. 117.—Arms of the Corporation of Goldsmiths of Paris, with this device: “Vases Sacrés et Couronnes, voilà notre Œuvre.”

pewterers, the mercers, the braziers, and even the grocers; and thus it came to pass that they combined on their banners of fleurs-de-lis the proper arms of each of these several trades. Thus, for instance, we see the banner of the goldsmiths of Castellane ([Fig. 118]) united with the retail mercers and tailors—it shows a pair of scissors, scales, and an ell measure; at Chauny ([Fig. 119]), a ladder, a hammer, and a vase, indicate that the goldsmiths had for compeers the pewterers and the slaters; at Guise ([Fig. 120]), the association of farriers, coppersmiths, and locksmiths, is allied with the goldsmiths by a horse-shoe, a mallet, and a key; the brewers of Harfleur ([Fig. 121]) quartered in their arms four barrels between the bars of the cross gules charged with a goblet of gold, which was the emblem of their associates the goldsmiths; at Maringues ([Fig. 122]), the gold cup on a field gules surmounts the grocer’s candles.

These banners were displayed only on great public ceremonies, in solemn processions, receptions, marriages, the obsequies of kings, queens, princes, and princesses. Exempted from military service, the goldsmiths, unlike other trade corporations, had not the opportunity of distinguishing themselves in the militia of the communes. They, nevertheless, occupied the first place in the state processions of trades, and frequently filled posts of honour. Thus in Paris they had the custody of the gold and silver plate when the good city entertained some illustrious guest at a banquet; they carried the canopy above the head of the king on his joyful accession; or, crowned with roses, walked bearing on their shoulders the venerated shrine of St. Geneviève (Fig. 123).