Peinture sur plaque de porcelaine The tondo is... Lot 32

Peinture sur plaque de porcelaine The tondo is an allegory of the triumph of religion with three figures in the centre representing, from left to right, Religion holding a cross, King Clovis in Merovingian garb and his wife Queen Clotilde wearing a green robe and a purple cape, the latter being the origin of Clovis' conversion to Christianity. They are flanked on the left by Eve on a tree stump, responsible for the chaos illustrated in the tondo, with three steam-breathing monsters at her feet representing Temptation and Satan. In the upper part, Moses in grisaille presents the tables of the Law. To his right, three female figures illustrate Paradise, surmounting three helmets and a Greco-Roman figure symbolizing idols and false beliefs. In the lower part, Charon is represented by bringing the souls of the deceased across the Styx with his boat surmounting an angel with a marine anchor symbolizing the fact that religion must be anchored in the souls. Good condition. In a later rectangular wooden frame. On the back an ink sketch on paper with the three main characters. Early 19th century. D. 12,5 cm. Frame: H. 16,5 x W. 16,5 cm. History The political context of the years 1800-1815, between the end of the Empire and the beginning of the Restoration, seems to have inspired the painter of this scene. Indeed, the France of those years must reconvert following the example of Clovis, the first king of the Franks, evoked here, and thus return to the true religion, save itself through rechristianization