Ewer from the Church of Milhaguet

This small ewer in rock-crystal was originally kept in the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Milhaguet[1]. It takes the form of an oval-shaped ewer with quite a high neck and a short spout. On each side of the ewer is an eagle with its wings spread out, ornamented with a decorative band. The birds of prey are sitting on branches that divide into two stems attached to a leaf pointing downwards, harking back perhaps to the Persian Tree of Life. Other chiselled palmettes can be seen on the ewer’s shoulder and neck.

The metal mounting was for a long time composed of two distinct parts, which were later married at different periods. The first of these, in chiselled silver, was probably made in the thirteenth century by goldsmiths in Limoges, and was restricted to an almond-shaped lid, a serpent-shaped handle, and a chain attached to the plinth by bands. In the seventeenth century, the piece was placed on an old, gold-plated copper base, whose tubing comprised a rock-crystal knot. On the circular base were medallions portraying scenes from the life of Christ, the Virgin, and several saints, including Saint Stephen of Thiers, founder of the monastic Order of Grandmont[2]. This ewer of Near-Eastern origin, associated with Christian liturgy, was used as a cruet[3].

Before being placed in the church of Milhaguet, it was mentioned in the 1666 inventory of the treasure of the wealthy abbey of Grandmont. The monastic order of the Grandmontines, founded by Saint Stephen of Thiers at the end of the eleventh century, had a high reputation in the Middle Ages. It received large donations, particularly from the Plantagenet family, whose princes reigned over England, Aquitaine, and the Limousin region. It is known that Richard the Lionheart[4] went to Palestine in the Third Crusade. Is this ewer connected with the expedition, or did it arrive in FranceVenice and Saint-Jean d’Acre? Whatever the origin of its presence in France, the order of the Grandmontines, which had once been very powerful, only consisted of a few monks in the eighteenth century, and was suppressed by the Pope and the king of France. The abbey of Grandmont was closed in 1790, and its treasure was dispersed. through the trade that the Latin West had established with the East, via

The ewer has all the characteristics of a Fatimid piece. The cut and engraved symmetrical decoration, ornamented with a small number of well spaced motifs, may be connected with Iran. These characteristics can be seen on other Fatimid pieces, such as those in the Palazzo Pitti (Florence), and the Cathedral of Fermo (Italy), and on the ewer of Saint-Denis (see description). A fair number of vessels in rock-crystal, most of them Fatimid, have survived in church treasures; they often served as reliquaries[5].

The encyclopaedist al-Bīrūnī (973–1050) considered rock-crystal—which is a very pure form of quartz—, to be ‘the most precious of stones’. In his Kitâb al-jawâhir he wrote, ‘its value stems from its limpidity, and the fact that it comprises two of the four elements: air and water’. This view is connected with the theory—a theory that was a very important part of Aristotelian philosophy and was widely adopted by Islamic philosophy and medieval medicine and alchemy—of the world’s four elements: Fire, Air, Water, and Earth. In the Christian and Muslim religions, shiny materials, which were pure and limpid, were used for evoking God, because God was Himself Light (Nūr 'ala Nūr, Light of Light).

[2] In around 1970, this rather showy base was removed and replaced by the ewer’s original mount.

[3]Vessel containing ‘the holy oils’ (used in certain sacramentals, such as baptisms, and the ordination of priests), wine or water (used in the ritual of the Mass).

[4] Son of Henry II Plantagenet and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

[5] Like the ampul from the Cathedral of Reims, which also originated from Fatimid Egypt and which, fitted on to a mounting in the fifteenth century, contained a thorn from Christ’s crown of thorns.