The Baptistère de Saint Louis is an object of Islamic art, made of hammered brass, and inlaid with silver, gold, and niello. It was produced in the Syro-Egyptian zone, under the Mamluk dynasty by the coppersmith Muhammad ibn al-Zayn. This object is now in the Islamic Arts department of the Louvre under inventory number LP 16. Despite its common name, it has no connection with the King of France Louis IX, known as Saint Louis (1214–1270). It was used as a baptismal font for future French kings, making it an important Islamic and French historical object.
The origins and original purpose of the basin are not fully known, since the first record of the object was in a French church inventory. It was possibly used as a ritual washing bowl at the Mamluk court or it could have been commissioned by a Christian patron.
The Baptistère de Saint Louis has a complicated visual program on the interior and exterior, depicting a number of different groups of people, a wide variety of animals, fish, plants, and Arabic inscriptions. The basin was made through an engraving and hammering process using precious and high quality metal. Due to the ambiguous history of the basin, the meaning of the iconography, the exact date and location of its creation, and sponsorship is still being debated by scholars.
History The conditions of commissioning and production of the object are still unknown, as is the date and context of its arrival in France. It does not appear on the inventory of goods Charles V erected before 1380, but it is mentioned around 1440 in an unpublished inventory of the treasure of the Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes. On September 14, 1606, it was used for the baptism of the future king Louis XIII.
The Baptistery can be traced several times to the 18th century: first in an inventory of the sacristy of the Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes of 1739 and in the article "Vincennes" in Description of Paris by Jean-Aimar Piganiol of La Force, in 1742, in which he explains that the baptistery was located for some time at the Bâtme des Enfans de France and served at the baptism of Dauphin who later went on to reign as Louis XIII. He then goes on to describe the Persian or Chinese figures throughout the basin as well as the variety of animals represented throughout the inner frieze. In 1791, Aubin-Louis Milin, in National Antiquities, seems to be the first to make the link between the Baptistery and Saint Louis
The same author recognizes many Western characters; he believes that the four horsemen present in the medallions outside indicate the years of conflict between the sultans and the Franks. Milin also raises the possibility of an earlier arrival in France, linked to the Embassy of Harun al-Rashid to Charlemagne at the beginning of the 10th century. The work also presents rather imprecise engravings, but which show that the object has not undergone major modification since that time, with the exception of the addition of two plates to the arms of France in 1821, a date in which the object is used to baptise the Duke of Bordeaux.Milin 1791, p. 62.
On 17 January 1793, the Baptistery was sent to the deposit of Petits-Augustins before entering the museum nine days later.Makariou 2012b, p. 282. Replaced in 1818 at Vincennes, by order of the king, it returned to the Louvre in 1852, after a decree of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte stating that "all objects that belonged to the rulers who ruled France would be sought, gathered and placed in the Palace of the Louvre."Rice 1951, p. 10. It left the museum temporarily in 1856 to serve in Notre Dame at the baptismal ceremony of Prince Napoleon Eugene; this is the last time this basin was used as a baptismal object.
The year 1866 is marked by two publications: in the Catalog of the Museum of Sovereigns Henry Barbet de Jouy describes the subjects of the basin and their depiction of a Saracen prince fighting, hunting, and feasting, as well as the different animals, some predators and some prey.
Barbet de Jouy calls into question the dating proposed before and puts forward the hypothesis of a work reported in France around 1150. For its part, Adrien Prévost de Longpérier proposes in an articleLongpérier 1866. the first scientific study of the Baptistery. He discovered the origin of the false date of Piganiol, refutes the idea that the work served at the baptism of St. Louis, and sees a work of the first half of the 13th century, because of fleur-de-lys which seem to have been added in the 13th or 14th century in Europe.
In 1930, a stylistic analysis by Mehmet Aga Oglu is the first to recognize the baptistry as a work of Syrian workshop, and the date of the first quarter of the 14th century.Aga-Oglu 1930. Nine years later, at the time of the German invasion, the basin was made safe in the Chambord castle by conservationists John David-Weill and David Storm Rice, who was then in Paris to study.Makariou 2012, p. 7 World War II delayed the release of his monograph, which remains today the most comprehensive and best illustrative reference.Rice 1951. His interpretations have, however, been partly questioned by several researchers since then.
Description
The Baptistery of St. Louis is a large basin with streamlined profile, made of a single sheet of brass. According to publications, its dimensions vary slightly:
its height is between 22 cm; and 24.4 cmRIce 1951, p.12. its maximum diameter varies between 50.2 cm;Atil 1981. p. 76. and 50.4 cm D.S. Rice also gives an indication of the minimum diameter: 38.4 cm.
It has decoration depicting human figures both internally and externally, which is characterized by a great diversity of characters, in their clothing, their physical appearance and their postures. According to D.S. Rice, this decoration would be oriented along an axis passing through the silver under the rim of the basin and a characteristic armor. All the figurative motifs are located on a background of plant foliage, where various animals are located. Outside, the decoration occupies the lower part of the basin; it consists of a main register with friezes of characters interrupted by four medallions, bordered by two friezes of running animals, interrupted by four medallions bearing a fleur-de-lys heraldry. Above the upper register, a vegetal pattern ends with lancets. A large inscription in silver takes place on the area remained untouched. A running animal frieze is also present on the edge of the rim.
Inside, the decor unfolds in the upper part in the form of a large register decorated with horsemen, interrupted by four medallions: two with a throne scene, two with arms. On either side of this main register unfurl animal friezes interrupted by fleur-de-lys medallions. On the rim, there is also a frieze marked by a wavy pattern, where stylized birds appear. At the bottom of this decoration, a vegetal pattern ends with lancets. The bottom of the basin is also decorated, on the periphery, with a frieze of lancets, and inside a multitude of aquatic animals.
The outer frieze
The outer frieze includes twenty characters on foot, and four horsemen in the medallions. All are haloed.
The riders all are in action, wearing a costume and have a different physical appearance. On the other hand, their horses are all harnessed in the same way: a net, a saddle with stirrups, a cover more or less long on the rump, a martingale and ornate buttocks. A scarf with a tassel is tied on the nape of the neck. Their tail is sometimes tied (medallion B and D) and sometimes left free.
Medallion A: The rider is a hunter who kills a bear with a spear. He wears a chinstrap hat, a long-sleeved and tight coat. A scarf or cape flies behind him. His face is elongated, smooth, with a protruding chin marked by a point. Medallion B: The rider is turbaned and wears a short-sleeved coat and a polo cane. The face is missing. A bird with a pointed beak and a long neck forming a loop – perhaps a stork – takes place on his back. Medallion C: the rider is a hunter, who thrusts his spear into the open mouth of a serpentine dragon with a knotted body. The man wears a hat, a short-sleeved coat and a cape closed on the chest and fluttering on his back. His elongated face is bearded. Medallion D: the rider seems to wear a headdress tied behind his skull and surmounted by a pompom. His features are reminiscent of the conventions of Iranian representations: a very round face, a mustache and a goatee. His garment, decorated with geometric patterns, is largely missing, but had to be a long-sleeved coat. His saddle is decorated with a bird. The man is an archer: he carries a quiver filled with four arrows and has just unhooked a fifth in the shoulder of a lion.
The characters on foot, in the same way, are distinguished by the diversity of their postures, their clothing, and their accessories.
Band E1: Five characters, wearing a cloak attached to the chest, hair tied in a bun and a tripartite jugular hat, except for the central figure, who seems bareheaded. All bear beards, some long and some short. Two have arms crossed in the back, one at the left end, seems attached to a stake which we see the base in the ground, between his feet. The second from the left holds an inscribed cup and a long neck bottle. The central figure carries a quadruped in his arms. The character on the far right holds a written cup; his hat is adorned with a feather. Band E2: Six characters, three turned to the left, three to the right, the central figure looks to the left. Among the characters turned to the right, one is smaller than the others. He carries a polo cane, wears a coat and boots, and seems pushed by a man leaning behind him. The five tall figures are turbaned, hair falling freely and ears free; they wear a sword at the waist, as well as boots sometimes marked by symbols: a dot, two dots and a drop, two dots around a vertical line, and three vertical lines. Their round faces, marked by a mustache and a goatee, sometimes by a monobrow and picking on the cheeks, could be Mongolian. Two carry an ax to the half-moon blade, another a bow on the shoulders. Band E3: Four characters, dressed in a similar way to those of the band E1: a cape closed on the chest, a tripartite hat (whose end is flattened, unlike those of the band E1), and low shoes. Three appear to have a stubble;L'expression est empruntée à Ward 1999, p. 117 the fourth has a long beard. The third character from the left is wearing a different cap that Rice interpreted as being having bird feathers.Rice 1950, p. 20. The leftmost figure has his arms behind his back, the second holds a cheetah's leash, the third wears a hawk on his gloved hand. The rightmost character holds a crane in his right hand and a dog in his left hand; his hat is adorned with a feather, and he seems to raise his head to observe a duck.