Medieval Art in Motion: The Inventory and Gift Giving of Queen Clémence de Hongrie by Mariah Proctor-Tiffany (review)

Clémence de Hongrie is perhaps the least celebrated of the queens of France. She married King Louis X in 1315, but he died the following year, leaving her pregnant. Her son, named Jean, died within a few days of his birth, and the king's successor, Philippe V, refused to pay her the income her husband had promised. By the time she died in 1328, the young dowager had succeeded in securing her estate and her royal status, as well as using her patronage and art collecting to promote her husband, her son, and her own family in Naples.

When she died in 1328 her possessions were inventoried. These included objects held in her Paris home as well as at her other estates. In the inventory is recorded details about the origins, sizes, weights, materials used, and their appraisal and sale prices, together with the names of buyers of some 748 individual lots. This was contained in the ninety-nine pages of the manuscript that formed the basis of Proctor-Tiffany's analysis, together with Clémence's testament, dictated shortly before her death. They are provided untranslated in the original language for greater accuracy. These documents not only give an indication of the types of objects a queen might own, but also provide additional information of the circulation, as well as the location, of such pieces within her various properties.

Proctor-Tiffany's book consists of seven chapters and two appendices containing copies of both Clémence's testament and her inventory. These documents are thus made more accessible to those interested in following up areas addressed in this examination. The chapters cover the material found in these primary sources very thoroughly. Not many examples of the actual artefacts recorded in these documents have survived, so Proctor-Tiffany has included examples of equivalent works. This can be quite useful, as pieces associated with other widowed queens have become quite well-known within art history. For example, manuscripts and statues that once belonged to Jeanne d'Évreux have been given a prominence both because of their survival and the quality of their workmanship. It seems likely that objects associated with Queen Clémence would have been of an equivalent standard. Certainly, the evaluations given of these objects in the accompanying documents do provide us with some means of measurement, as well as an indication of their range.

The works are wide-ranging and are in a multitude of different media including sculpture, manuscripts, and jewellery. They also reflected the variety of locations that were important for establishing the identity of a queen, including her own person, as well as works associated with worship and with entertaining. These included reliquaries, funeral sculptures, chalices and patens, and domestic objects such as ivory carved mirrors, cups, and rings. Other elements of queenly activity are also recorded, such as the various acts of patronage that were an important aspect of royalty. Thus, various acts of gift-giving are covered in Proctor-Tiffany's study. For example, Clémence led a retinue of royal women in a night-time procession to the abbey of Saint-Magloire to mark the translation of the saint to a new reliquary. As part of these events she, and four other women, also offered textiles and goldsmiths' works to the church. In addition to such ritualized activities she gave gifts to a wide range of people in Paris and around Europe. While many were members of her extended family, they also included more humble members of her household. The book includes a useful map that gives some indication of where these objects travelled.

This study highlights how a careful and intelligent reading of such documents as inventories and wills can be so useful for...