MEDIEVAL IMAGES OF SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX - VA17.jpg


Category	Seal
Origin: artist/workshop
Date	12C/2
Reference No
Size	4.0x3.0
Provenance	Abbey of Clairvaux
Present Location	Rouen, Musee des Antiquites de la Seine-Maritime
Bibliography	SBOp 8:199; Paris 1990, 265; Walford & Way 1857, 50-2; Schmitt 1992, 641-3; Aurenhammer 1959-67, 332
	Douet d'Arcq 1968, 373 (No 8644); Birch 1887-1900, 5:257 (No 18,531)
Illustration From	photo - Society of Antiquaries of London (impression)
Other illustrations	photo - Museum; Paris 1990, 150 (matrix) and 265 (impression)
	Leclercq 1966, 55; Huy 1990, 13
Country	France

Description:
Pointed oval matrix made of copper, 4 cm long. It shows a frontal figure of Bernard, tonsured and wearing a cowl. He is seated on a faldstool, the arms of which termintate in an animal's head. In his right hand he has a simple crozier, in his left a writing-tablet in the form of an arch-topped diptych and stylus. The legend reads: +SIGILLUM:BERNARDI:ABBATISCLAREVALL'. Its auhtenticity has in recent times been questioned by M. Pastoureau, who claims that it is an eighteenth-century forgery. If genuine, it is the only one from his lifetime with the exception of a manuscript image from Canterbury (see MA006).

Description:

Pointed oval matrix made of copper, 4 cm long. It shows a frontal figure of Bernard, tonsured and wearing a cowl. He is seated on a faldstool, the arms of which termintate in an animal's head. In his right hand he has a simple crozier, in his left a writing-tablet in the form of an arch-topped diptych and stylus. The legend reads:
+SIGILLUM:BERNARDI:ABBATISCLAREVALL'. Its auhtenticity has in recent times been questioned by
M. Pastoureau, who claims that it is an eighteenth-century forgery. If genuine, it is the only one from his lifetime with the exception of a manuscript image from Canterbury (see MA006).