1557 Jean Pénicaud II Limoges Enamel Panels
GUEST: It is what's known as a diptych. On the back it says that it was done very early, I believe in the 1500s by one of the Limoges artists. It has the initials "J.P." but more than that, I don't really know very much about it.
APPRAISER: And how did it come into your possession?
GUEST: It came into my possession through my husband, who is an art and antique dealer.
APPRAISER: Uh-huh.
GUEST: It was said that it came from one of the Heinz estates. My husband and I had a very unusual relationship, and he got sick and we got married, like, two weeks before he passed away.
APPRAISER: How much did your husband pay for them?
GUEST: $10,000.
APPRAISER: And how long ago was that?
GUEST: About three years ago. So you did mention that it's Limoges. And Limoges is a place in France. It's the center of Limoges enamel work, which this is a very good example. It's really a medieval art form, and it's one of the areas of medieval craft that still exists in quite large numbers today. In the 1100s is when it started, and it was created all the way through and reached a high point during the 1500s in the Renaissance. So you have two panels here within this, sort of, arched frame which closes. And on the left hand side we have the "Ascension of Christ." And on the opposing panel, Mary. Here we have "I-N-R-I," which we've seen on many crucifixes all over the world. Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, in Latin. And on this side we have "Meta dei," and that means "Mother of God." Did you mention also that it had initials on it? "J.P." It's Jean Pénicaud. And there were three Jean Pénicauds that were working in the 1500s.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: This is dated to 1557, and so I think it's Jean Pénicaud II.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: It's set within this wooden frame. We can see that there's quite a lot of worm damage on the frame here, which makes it look like it's an old frame, but we believe by consensus that these are probably 19th century.
GUEST: Oh, really? How interesting.
APPRAISER: The plaques themselves, as we said, we do believe, are from 1557. These pieces were enormously popular. There was so much demand. There was many late 19th century enamels that were made in the 16th century style, which are just completely fake.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: That said, I do believe that these two central panels are real, but I think that it's been embellished, if you like, with these additions. There's another aspect to this which I think is quite interesting, and that is this little label here, "3391," that looks very similar to a Goupil label. And the Goupil Company were an auction company in Paris founded in 1850 by Jean-Baptiste Goupil.
GUEST: Hmm.
APPRAISER: They dealt in these sorts of pieces quite frequently. So it could be that this came through their auction house in the late 19th century, perhaps around the time that they were inserted into this backing. The depictions here are absolutely stunning. The colors are still so vibrant. These are vitreous enamels so they won't really fade. There are some cracks here.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: That will adversely affect the value. In auction, this pair today should sell for, comfortably, $20,000 to $40,000.
GUEST: Okay, that's great.
APPRAISER: They're wonderful pieces.
GUEST: Mm-hmm. That's incredible, thank you.
$20,000 - $40,000 Auction
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Understanding Our Appraisals
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Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
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