This beautiful
Belgian brass plate depicts a scene found in many iconographic tomb panels
and altarpieces in the 15th century. The deceased is shown being introduced to
the Virgin Mary by their patron saint. Here St. Margaret, dressed in the height
of fashion, stands behind the kneeling Marguerite de Scornay. The dragon
appears with St. Margaret because legend has it that she was tempted by the devil
in the form of a dragon while imprisoned for her faith and drove him away when
she gave the sign of the Cross. The background is richly decorated with
griffins and foliage, the scroll reads "Jesus Christ, Son of the living
God, have mercy on me a sinner". The symbols of the 4 Evangelists,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, appear in the corners.
The shields in
this brass represent Marguerite's lineage. She came from a noble family
and was a very powerful abbess. The Abbesses of Nivelles were rulers with
judicial rights and authority to make coinage under a charter of 1261 from John
I, Duke of Brabant. Sister Marguerite was famous for having built a Great Gate
and also she ordered Daily Mass to be celebrated by the common chaplains.
The plate is set into an altar wall as evidence of that Mass. Plates such as
this are not monumental brasses but foundation brasses, made not to commemorate
but to record a religious foundation.
During World
War II the Church at Nivelles was all but destroyed by bombs, and this brass
alone survives, representing the upper third of a large plate. Originally
it had been enameled, but only minute traces of this can be detected now.
The
multi-color rubbing of this brass emphasizes the rich Flemish design and
elaborate detail. Rubbings of portions of the brass also make striking wall
hangings and are available at the Wachs Brass Rubbing Centre.
