Beschreibung:

A Limoges style enamel plaque depicting the Adoration of the Magi, mounted within a later glazed gilt frameProbably late 19th century The arched plaque depicting a stable scene with the three kneeling kings offering their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the seated Virgin and Christ Child, the figure of Joseph standing behind the seated Virgin, the gilt rays of the star of Bethlehem shining onto the infant Christ through a doorway open to the starry night, the frame with applied Johannesburg paper framer's label, the plaque 8.5cm x 10.9cm approximately, the frame 14.2cm x 17.5cmFootnotesProvenance The collection of Sir Michael and Lady Oppenheimer DD (3rd Baronet, British, 1924-2020), Jersey, thence by family descent. Sir Michael Oppenheimer's maternal grandparents were Sir Robert Grenville Harvey, 2nd Baronet (1856-1931) and Lady Emily Blanche Harvey (1872-1935) of Langley Park, Buckinghamshire which was the Harvey Baronet's main family seat from 1788 until 1945. Sir Michael's paternal family wealth was derived from mining interests in South Africa and his father Bernard Oppenheimer, as Chairman of the South African Diamond Corporation, received a baronetcy from George V in 1921 for setting up diamond sorting factories to employ wounded ex-servicemen after the First World War. The Oppenheimer family was involved with the prestigious De Beers brand over the subsequent decades of the 20th century and Lady Oppenheimer DD (1926-2022) was a distinguished moral and philosophical theologian, with a particular interest in the ethics pertaining to personal relationships. This devotional enamel or "image de chevet" is in the style of the early output of the Limoges workshops of the 16th century but the composition and the shape of the rounded panel typically reflects contemporary French manuscript illuminations of the period.