UNKNOWN GOLDSMITH, French
(active 1365-1380)

Sceptre of Charles V of France

1365-80
Enamelled, engraved and chased gold with silver and stones
Musée du Louvre, Paris

The immense production of goldsmiths' work reached its height about 1400, and by then it constituted a kind of anthology of all the stylistic innovations made in the course of the previous century. From this abundance of fine work, the sceptre of Charles V of France can be singled out. The statue of Charlemagne crowning the sceptre, and in particular the rendering of the face, shows how closely the style of such work corresponded to the realistic tendencies of contemporary monumental sculpture.