UNKNOWN GOLDSMITH, French
(active before 1405 in Paris)

Golden Horse

before 1405
Enamel
Treasury, Altötting

The popular name of this object is derived from the iconographically less significant feature of the horse held by a page. It was a New Year's present from the French queen Elizabeth of Bavaria to her husband Charles VI, who is shown kneeling on a raised platform reached by a twin staircase. The king adores the Christ Child in the lap of the Virgin, while opposite him a knight holds his helmet.

The figures are finished in the encrusted enamel technique, which was particularly favoured for such precious objects. However, a multi-figure composition on this scale is exceptional.