Three Worthies in the Fiery Furnace
about 1150–75
Medium/TechniqueChamplevé enamel and gilding on copper
DimensionsOverall: 20.8 x 22.7 cm (8 3/16 x 8 15/16 in.)
Credit LineWilliam Francis Warden Fund
Accession number51.7
On View
On viewClassificationsEnamels
Collections
Composition, color, and technical precision place this large plaque among the finest examples of medieval enamelwork to survive. It tells the Old Testament story of the Three Worthies who refused to worship a golden image and were cast into a furnace where they “walked about in the midst of the flames, singing hymns to God and blessing the Lord. Then Azariah stood and offered this prayer: ‘Blessed art thou, O Lord, God of our fathers, and worthy of praise; and thy name is glorified for ever.’” Hearing this, an angel “drove the fiery flame out of the furnace . . . so that the fire did not touch them at all or hurt or trouble them.” In the Middle Ages, many Old Testament stories were viewed as precursors of New Testament ones; the Three Worthies prefigured the purity of the Virgin, as the encircling inscription here makes clear: “Neither the fury of the King nor the fire can harm the youths, nor can the birth of the Mother destroy the seal of her Virginity.”
ProvenanceBy 1853, Princess Isabella Dzialynska (née Czartoryski) (b. 1832 - d. 1899), Goluchow Castle, Poznan, Poland; until World War II, by descent within Czartoryski family [see note 1]. By 1950, J. Pollack (dealer), Paris; sold by Pollack to Wildenstein and Co., New York; 1951, sold by Wildenstein to the MFA [see note 2]. (Accession Date: January 11, 1951)
NOTES:
[1] During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Czartoryski family were celebrated collectors of art in Poland. They housed their collections in the Czartoryski Museum, Kraków, and the Goluchow Castle, Poznan. With the German invasion of Poland in 1939, the family hid much of their collection behind a fake wall at Sieniawa Palace (outside Kraków), in the basement of the museum, and in a relative's home in Pewkinie. Nazis eventually discovered and confiscated many of these works of art, which were moved about several times during the war. While Allied forces restituted much of the collection after the war, many objects had been traded, lost, and looted and were not returned to the Czartoryski family.
[2] In 1951, Prince Wladyslaw Czartoryski of London filed a lawsuit notifying both Wildenstein and the MFA that this object and another enamel (MFA no. 50.858) had been unlawfully seized by the Nazis from his family's collection during World War II. A settlement was ultimately reached among all parties, giving the MFA full ownership of both enamels. Prince Czartoryski signed an agreement on July 11, 1955 assigning legal ownership of the objects to Wildenstein and the MFA (in MFA curatorial file). It was further arranged between Wildenstein and the MFA that the museum was the full owner of the enamels; this is documented in a letter from Georges Wildenstein to Georg Swarzenski of the MFA (June 30, 1955; in MFA curatorial file).
NOTES:
[1] During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Czartoryski family were celebrated collectors of art in Poland. They housed their collections in the Czartoryski Museum, Kraków, and the Goluchow Castle, Poznan. With the German invasion of Poland in 1939, the family hid much of their collection behind a fake wall at Sieniawa Palace (outside Kraków), in the basement of the museum, and in a relative's home in Pewkinie. Nazis eventually discovered and confiscated many of these works of art, which were moved about several times during the war. While Allied forces restituted much of the collection after the war, many objects had been traded, lost, and looted and were not returned to the Czartoryski family.
[2] In 1951, Prince Wladyslaw Czartoryski of London filed a lawsuit notifying both Wildenstein and the MFA that this object and another enamel (MFA no. 50.858) had been unlawfully seized by the Nazis from his family's collection during World War II. A settlement was ultimately reached among all parties, giving the MFA full ownership of both enamels. Prince Czartoryski signed an agreement on July 11, 1955 assigning legal ownership of the objects to Wildenstein and the MFA (in MFA curatorial file). It was further arranged between Wildenstein and the MFA that the museum was the full owner of the enamels; this is documented in a letter from Georges Wildenstein to Georg Swarzenski of the MFA (June 30, 1955; in MFA curatorial file).
Unidentified
mid-12th century
