Eleanor Vase
Date:
before 1147 (for the mount)
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
France
Medium:
Silver,
Pearl,
Rock crystal
Dimensions:
33.7 × 15.6 cm
Description:
The so-called Eleanor Vase was one of Abbot Suger's (r. 1122–51) gifts to the treasury of the abbey of Saint-Denis. Suger had a twelfth-century mount created for a rock-crystal vessel. The older rock crystal may have been a seventh-century Sasanian or tenth-century work from the renowned Fatimid treasury. It was transported from its original location to Muslim Spain, from there to the royal family in southwestern France, and finally to Saint-Denis. Suger subsequently turned it into a ewer by adding a spout. The inscription running along the twelfth-century base identifies some of the vase's previous owners, including Eleanor of Aquitaine and her second husband King Louis VII: "As a bride Eleanor gave this vase to King Louis, Mitadolus to her grandfather, the king to me, and Suger to the saints." Both the rock crystal's physical attributes and the object's past were important to Suger. Suger also had ancient objects set in twelfth-century mounts, including the so-called Eagle Vase (see separate entry) and the Sardonyx Chalice (see link below).
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
7
Repository and Online Resources:
• Read more about the Eleanor Vase on the website of the Louvre.
• Read about the Sardonyx Chalice on the website of the National Gallery of Art.
Image Credits:
Wikimedia Commons; Linda Safran
