IMMARCESCIBLE

Immarcescible, the catalogue of the exhibition held from October 22 to December 20, 2025, explores Renaissance Limoges enamels and their collectors. The title alludes to the enduring brilliance and unalterable nature of these sumptuous pieces, painted in grisaille or polychrome, which have been collected for nearly five centuries.

This new publication traces the history of passionate collectors. From the creation of enamels to the present day, the catalogue surveys periods of enthusiasm and neglect. In every generation, it takes only a few curious and discerning collectors to bring this timeless beauty back to light. Among these enamelling “fanatics,” many names are familiar: various branches of the Rothschild family, J. P. Morgan, Henry Clay Frick, William Randolph Hearst, Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Bergé, and Yves Saint Laurent.

The publication then presents a corpus of more than seventy pieces illustrating the golden age of this production, from 1520 to 1630, by over a dozen eclectic artists: Pierre Reymond, Pierre Courteys, Pierre, Jean III, and Narde Pénicaud, Jean Miette, Jean and Susanne de Court, as well as Jean I and Joseph Limosin. It offers a synthesis on the eminent plaques of the Master of the Aeneid and sheds new light on Couly Nouailher’s series of the Nine Worthies. The enigmatic Master MP, whose oeuvre is reexamined for this publication, emerges as one of the most talented enamelers, alongside the virtuosic and celebrated Léonard Limosin.