Depicting of Saints in Limoges Enamels of the 12th –14th Centuries: the Circle of Iconographic Sources

This study is dedicated to identifying possible visual iconographic sources for hagiographical compositions in Limoges enamels from the XIIth to XIVth centuries. The phenomenon of medieval Limoges enamels lies in the fact that despite having a significant corpus of surviving works, researchers have very limited information about the characteristics of enamel production, including how enamelers handled possible iconographic prototypes. We focus on the most popular hagiographical compositions, depicting scenes from the lives of Saints Stephen, Martial and Valeria of Limoges, and Thomas Becket. The aim of the study is to reconstruct an approximate range of monuments belonging to different types of art that Limoges enamelers may have drawn inspiration from when creating works depicting these saints. In the course of work, in addition to listing monuments from this circle, we also deduce some patterns of how Limoges enamelers interacted with these models belonging to different types of art. These patterns, as we assume, may be relevant not only for hagiographic compositions, but also for Limoges medieval Christian enamels in general.