Enamel chandelier with feet shaped like stylized lion heads. The base depicts battle scenes. Front view.

Candle holder: Battle scenes, Cl. 23875 © GrandPalaisRmn / Franck Raux

Enamel chandelier with feet shaped like stylized lion heads. The base depicts battle scenes. Front view.

Candle holder: Battle scenes, Cl. 23875 © GrandPalaisRmn / Franck Raux

Enamel object depicting a man in profile, knees bent, armed with a shield and a curved weapon. Front view.

Candle holder: Battle scenes, Cl. 23875 (detail) © GrandPalaisRmn / Franck Raux

Enamel object depicting a woman standing in profile, armed with a shield and a sword. Front view.

Candle holder: Battle scenes, Cl. 23875 (detail) © GrandPalaisRmn / Franck Raux

Enamel object depicting a man in profile, knees bent, armed with a shield and a curved weapon. Front view.

Candle holder: Battle scenes, Cl. 23875 (detail) © GrandPalaisRmn / Franck Raux

Enamel object depicting a woman standing in profile, armed with a shield and a sword. Front view.

Candle holder: Battle scenes, Cl. 23875 (detail) © GrandPalaisRmn / Franck Raux

Enamel object depicting a woman standing in profile, armed with a shield and a sword. Front view.

Candle holder: Battle scenes, Cl. 23875 (detail) © GrandPalaisRmn / Franck Raux

Candle holder

Battle scenes

Description

On display - room 6

Circa 1180 - 1190

High Middle Ages

This candle holder features three representations of a battle scene between a standing female figure armed with a sword and a male character with bent knees, depicted within a medallion, wielding a strange, curved weapon.

It is perhaps a lay battle scene, or rather a psychomachia, were virtues (female figures) battle against vices (male characters).

The base rests on legs shaped like stylised lion paws.

The colours and design of this piece mean it is part of the Romanesque-style production from Limousin.

From one artwork to another

Sculpted and fragmented head depicting a man with curly beard wearing a hat. Front-facing stone sculpture.

Head of the king of Judah No. 6, Notre-Dame de Paris, Cl. 22988 © GrandPalaisRmn / René-Gabriel Ojeda

Heads of the kings of Judah

First half of the 13th century