“L’Aigle de Suger” : un faucon plutôt qu’un aigle

The quality and precision of the goldsmith work known as the “Suger’s Eagle” lead to question the identity of the bird taken as a model for this precious zoomorph ewer. A set of anatomical features, foremost among which is the tomial tooth of the beak, the shape of the latter and of the head, the co...

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Auteur principal: Prodon, Roger
Format: Article ou chapitre numérique
Langue:Français
Publié: 2020
Accès en ligne:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
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spelling cairn-RDA_207_0009RDARevue de l'art https://shs.cairn.info/revue-de-l-art-2020-1-page-9?lang=fr https://doi.org/10.3917/rda.207.0009 “L’Aigle de Suger” : un faucon plutôt qu’un aigle Prodon, Roger2020 fre Revue de l'art | 207 | 1 | 2020-02-23 | p. 9-13 | 0035-1326 RDA_207100 The quality and precision of the goldsmith work known as the “Suger’s Eagle” lead to question the identity of the bird taken as a model for this precious zoomorph ewer. A set of anatomical features, foremost among which is the tomial tooth of the beak, the shape of the latter and of the head, the complication of the nostril, and the shape of the wings, identify this bird as a falcon. This is surprising because in the Middle Ages the falcon is associated with hunting and pleasure and does not have the Christic, apostolic or imperial symbolism of the eagle, which would have been better adapted to the religious context of Suger’s abbey church. Nevertheless, the precision of the anatomical details of this piece contrasts with the poor accuracy of the numerous medieval representations of birds of prey, and leads to the assumption that this exceptional work is based on direct observation of a real bird. Such a preoccupation with realism illustrates one of the characteristics of the emerging Gothic art, a greater attention given to nature.Cairn free access
language Français
format Article ou chapitre numérique
building 0/Bibliothèque numérique/
1/Bibliothèque numérique/Cairn/
description The quality and precision of the goldsmith work known as the “Suger’s Eagle” lead to question the identity of the bird taken as a model for this precious zoomorph ewer. A set of anatomical features, foremost among which is the tomial tooth of the beak, the shape of the latter and of the head, the complication of the nostril, and the shape of the wings, identify this bird as a falcon. This is surprising because in the Middle Ages the falcon is associated with hunting and pleasure and does not have the Christic, apostolic or imperial symbolism of the eagle, which would have been better adapted to the religious context of Suger’s abbey church. Nevertheless, the precision of the anatomical details of this piece contrasts with the poor accuracy of the numerous medieval representations of birds of prey, and leads to the assumption that this exceptional work is based on direct observation of a real bird. Such a preoccupation with realism illustrates one of the characteristics of the emerging Gothic art, a greater attention given to nature.
author Prodon, Roger
spellingShingle Prodon, Roger
“L’Aigle de Suger” : un faucon plutôt qu’un aigle
author_facet Prodon, Roger
author_sort Prodon, Roger
title “L’Aigle de Suger” : un faucon plutôt qu’un aigle
title_short “L’Aigle de Suger” : un faucon plutôt qu’un aigle
title_full “L’Aigle de Suger” : un faucon plutôt qu’un aigle
title_fullStr “L’Aigle de Suger” : un faucon plutôt qu’un aigle
title_full_unstemmed “L’Aigle de Suger” : un faucon plutôt qu’un aigle
title_sort “l’aigle de suger” : un faucon plutôt qu’un aigle
publishDate 2020
container_title
container_issue
url https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://shs.cairn.info/revue-de-l-art-2020-1-page-9?lang=fr
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.3917/rda.207.0009
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