Front Cover for a Gospel Book of French Cardinal Jean La Balou (1421–1491)

A CLOSER LOOK

The museum identifies this metalwork as nielloed silver plaques within gilt-silver borders.

The museum's collection notes: Scenes from Christ’s infancy decorate this cover that once adorned the front of a gospel book. It is made up of a series of silver plaques held together by gilt-silver borders. The plaques are engraved, and the resulting fine lines or depressions have been filled with a silver sulfide alloy, lustrous black in color, in a technique called niello. It is one of the finest examples of this decorative technique for which Florence was renowned in the 15th century. This cover and its manuscript once belonged to the French cardinal, Jean La Balou, who was jailed in 1469. He presented his gospel book to Pope Paul II as a gift, perhaps in the hope of r