Limoges enamel triptych after Gerard David

This beautiful triptych is comprised of three Limoges enamel plaques set into a trompe l’oeil giltwood frame. The present triptych is after a particularly important and famous precedent: Gerard David’s The Baptism of Christ. David, a Netherlandish painter born around 1460, painted the triptych altarpiece now known as The Baptism of Christ during the first decade of the sixteenth century. The central panel depicts the baptism of Christ in the Jordan by John by Baptist, while the left and right panels contain donor portraits—images of those who commissioned David to paint the altarpiece. The manner of execution of this Limoges enamel triptych is especially fine, and the giltwood frame with its trompe l’oeil effect of receding diagonals is particularly beautiful.