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Medallion with the Emperor Augustus's Vision of the Virgin and Child

Description: According to legend, the Roman emperor Augustus asked a prophetess if there was anyone greater than himself. It was the day of Christ's birth, and the answer came to the emperor in a vision: a golden circle around the sun, in the middle of which was a beautiful virgin and a child. One side of the pendant shows Augustus and the other, the Virgin and Child.

The sophisticated style, superb workmanship, and imagery connect this piece to the Parisian workshop of Jean and Paul de Limbourg from Guelders (in the northern Netherlands), who created some of the finest International Gothic manuscript paintings. They initially trained as goldsmiths and their younger brother Arnold (of whom no works are known) was a goldsmith in Guelders. The enamelist who created this masterpiece and a few related works was an accomplished painter as well as a goldsmith.

Enameler: Workshop of the Limbourg Brothers (Dutch, active ca. 1400-1416)
Created: ca. 1420
Medium: champlevé enamel on gilded silver
Dimensions: 2 3/8 x 3/16 x 2 in. (6.1 x 0.5 x 5.2 cm) (h. x d. x diam.)

Culture: Burgundian

Period: Late Medieval

Country: France

Style: Gothic

Provenance: Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1914, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Line: Acquired by Henry Walters, 1914
Accession No. 44.462