Plique-à-jour

Today we visited the new Medieval and Renaissance galleries at the Victoria & Albert museum. Most enjoyable.

This object really caught my eye. It was almost as if the green parts (the enamel) were glowing. Extraordinary. It reminds me of the fictional substance 'Kryptonite' (Superman's achilles heal as it were).

This item and another just next to it out of shot are the only examples of medieval plique-à-jour in existence apparently.

plique-à-jour is a style of enameling in which usually transparent enamels are fused into the openings of a metal filigree to produce an effect suggestive of stained glass.

I can see what the appeal of this object was (and still is). It's shiny. So very shiny.