Le Cabinet de curiosité de Calixte Veulemans & Collections Bruxelloises

Le Cabinet de curiosité de Calixte Veulemans & Collections Bruxelloises
Wednesday 26 June 2019 - 19:00

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Le Cabinet de curiosité de Calixte Veulemans & Collections Bruxelloises
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152

Bas-relief representing Queen Radegonde de Poitiers as recumbent statue.
Limestone monolith from Lutetian country, pierced between the feet
168 x 33 x 10 cm ; 5,51 x 1,08 x 0,32 ft
Partials damages and old restorations
 
Presented on a black pedestal, with a protecting made-to-measure case
Is enclosed the report of the petrographic analysis from IRPA (dated on April 4th 2019), proving the Parisian area origin of the stone.


Radegonde, wife of Clotaire the 1st, Queen of the Frankish people, prefered to leave the court and to devote herself to a religious life under Bishop Médard influence. Around 539 she founded an abbey in Poitiers and received a lot of relics, including a fragment of the Real Cross, given by Justinian, Emperor of Constantinople.
This important vestige may be a sarcophagus cover or a column statue dedicated to the ornementation of a pilaster. The sculpted part shows some stylistic and iconographic elements which are close to the ones we can find in the representations of Radegonde de Poitiers.
This iconography is based on Germanic origins of the figure, idealised by long plaits, a stylised long sleeve costume, maintained by a wide belt from where knotted ropes are hanging. The crown confirms the presence of a Queen. This is inevitably an idealistic representation and not a realistic portrait. Today, any Merovingian representation of this woman has ever been found. The iconography of Radegonde, as it is known today, begins during Early Middle Age and was improved by the centuries.
In 587, Radegonde is buried ; in Sainte-Marie Church, which she founded and which was named after her to be sanctified. A pilgrimage will be developed around her personality. A community of clerics was in charge of protecting her tombstone and welcoming the faithful people.
In 955, the village and the church became damaged during the siege of Poitiers by the Duke of Aquitaine. In 1012, the abbess Beliarde cleared Radegonde’s tombstone which was walled-up; then a new Sainte-Radegonde Church was built above the former one. In 1083, a fire made the construction plan to change. Later, during religious wars, the queen’s tombstone was sacked.
Today, the most probable hypotesis is that this vestige is linked to one of these edifice reconstruction stages and its surroundings, dedicated to the cult of Radegonde. A capital of the current choir reveals that the bas-relief sculpture is in the church. Moreover, two sculpted slabs are inserted into the bell tower walls, which was rebuilt during the 11th century. One of them depicts a crowned woman, as Saint Radegonde.

Bibliography:
Radegonde: reine moniale et sainte, Jean Aubrun, 1986
Vie populaire de sainte Radegonde, reine de France et patronne du Poitou, Emile Briand, 1891
Tierdarstellungen in der Kleinkunst der Merowingerzeit im westlichen Frankenreich, Michaela Aufleger,1997
Poitiers : Sainte Radegonde, dir. Robert Favreau, 1999
 

Appraisal :

150000/200000 €

Hammer price :

0 €

Appraisal :

300/500 €

Hammer price :

0 €

Appraisal :

400/600 €

Hammer price :

480 €