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affiliation mono-ligne
Aug 22, 2017 15:04
6 yrs ago
French term

croix bouletées

French to English Art/Literary Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting illuminated manuscripts
"l’ornemaniste aux croix bouletées"

There is only one instance of this term in my document and it doesn't provide much in the way of context other than mentioning that this particular decorative artist was working alongside another. The decorative artist's name not being known, he is called after a feature of the decoration he used in historiated initials and margin decorations. Obviously, crosses in illuminated manuscripts, being two-dimensional, cannot have actual bosses, but I understand this as meaning that the crosses are painted to look as though they were decorated with bosses. Possibly, this particular artist may have an accepted English moniker.
Proposed translations (English)
3 +3 beaded crosses
4 beaded or "Toulouse" crosses
3 balled crosses

Discussion

Christopher Crockett Aug 23, 2017:
Strickly speaking, the *form* (i.e., specific type) of the cross is an iconographic element, not a stylistic one --though the manner in which these crosses were created (on the page) involves questions of "style" (and, thus, distinctions which might be made between the "hands" which created them).

Sounds like your author is pretty Deep into the Weeds of trying to unravel issues of workshop organization, using both iconographic and "formal" (i.e., stylistic) criteria.

This is, typically, the kind of meticulous detail that manuscript specialists are noted for, and the best of them perform the task with quite astonishing virtuosity.
Helen Shiner Aug 23, 2017:
@Barbara Yes, I'm aware of all of that. I'm talking about the motif.
B D Finch (asker) Aug 23, 2017:
@Helen It isn't one cross, it's a decorative motif that would have been used repeatedly in decorating the borders and initials of manuscripts. Each decorative artist had his own signature style, which can be used to distinguish the various hands that were employed in the completed work. These were not the people who painted the miniatures, who were much more elevated in the hierarchy of the workshop, or even the Master himself.
Helen Shiner Aug 22, 2017:
@Barbara Yes, that was one of my original two suggestions. I withdrew the suggestions, because I think the cross may well have these boules on its surface, rather than as terminals. There's probably no chance of you getting an image, but it would clarify things. Anyway, I was thinking a variety of terminals, but this, I believe, is about décor.
B D Finch (asker) Aug 22, 2017:
@Helen I note you posted a discussion entry that you later withdrew. Fortunately, I read the email and though the cross you suggested isn't appropriate, the reference you posted also includes: "A cross with the ends of the arms bottony (or botonny, i.e. "furnished with knobs or buttons"), i.e. shaped like a trefoil—and so it is sometimes called a cross trefly. In early armory it is not always distinguished from a cross crosslet."

I rather like the idea of "the decorative artist of crosses with knobs on".
philgoddard Aug 22, 2017:
I prefer Liz's "beaded".
philgoddard Aug 22, 2017:
I think you've answered your own question. You haven't given the French context, but if you need to give him a name, it's common practice to say something like The Ornamentalist of the Bossed Crosses. Otherwise, you could just describe him as "the artist who painted the crosses with bossed arms".

Proposed translations

+3
1 hr
Selected

beaded crosses

La croix occitane - Ostal d'Occitània
ostaldoccitania.com/la-croix-occitane/l=fr
1.
2.
Translate this page
Occitane car provençale et toulousaine, la Croix occitane, dite aussi Croix de Toulouse ou Croix du Languedoc est une croix grecque bouletée, à quatre .

http://www.famillebesner.org/1-36.1-What' s New.html
In terms of Heraldic Coat of Arms, the Cross of Toulouse, or Cross of the Languedoc, or'occitane' Cross, is a Greek Cross of equal branches, arrow-shaped and gold pommelled, of which the extremities of the branches are triply upright on fetlockjoint and beaded.


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Note added at 1 hr (2017-08-22 16:20:23 GMT)
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The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies
https://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=0199252467
Elizabeth Jeffreys, ‎John F. Haldon, ‎Robin Cormack - 2008 - ‎History
It is so named because in its best form it looks a bit like a string of beads; the plain, rounded style owes something to the 'bouletée' style; it is the basis of formal ..

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Note added at 1 hr (2017-08-22 16:23:55 GMT)
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Actually take a look here:

http://sgdelestaing.pagesperso-orange.fr/English/ECrosses3.h...

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Note added at 1 hr (2017-08-22 16:24:27 GMT)
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CROSS BOULETÉE: Greek Cross emptied and triple bouletée twelve points, more known as the Cross Toulouse.

(Near Dieudonné)

BEADED CROSS : These three terminologies that can not be synonymous were just used all three previous cross and must be specified. We propose a criterion dimension :
The first terminology is used when the pattern adorning the ends of branches reaches a diameter larger than the thickness of the branch. The term pelletized will work on the grounds of a diameter equal to or less than the width of the branch. As for the pearl, it will be reserved for a very small proportion still reasons to the thickness of the branch. It will sometimes specify, if any, that these patterns can be attached to the cross through short segments.
Note from asker:
Thanks Liz. In spite of the awful English of the last two refs you give, this does seem to be a possibility.
Peer comment(s):
agree philgoddard : Though some of your references are pretty awful translations.
13 mins
agree Christopher Crockett : I'd suggest "beaded or Toulouse cross" --that term seems to be quite common.
21 hrs
agree Helen Shiner : Since we don't know whether it has anything to do with Toulouse, I would go with beaded crosses as more generic, though, for me, 'beads' are probably too small. But without a picture, it's hard to be absolutely sure.
22 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks Liz"
5 hrs

balled crosses

Voir lien
Reference:

http://www.newtwist.com/product/erica-molinari-trunk-show-ss-ornate-balled-cross-charm/

Note from asker:
Thanks bohy, but not really an appropriate reference for my context.
Peer comment(s):
neutral Christopher Crockett : The crosses in BD's ms. might have looked something like this but, in spite of Ms. Molinari's imaginative nomenclature, this is not a term otherwise seen. It is worth noting that she is SOLD OUT of this particular item.
17 hrs
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23 hrs

beaded or "Toulouse" crosses

I'm assuming that the crosses in your ms. look something like this:

https://www.google.com/search?q=toulouse cross&ie=utf-8&oe=u...

Calling an anonymous artist by some particular characteristic of his work is a common practice in the AH literature.

"The master of the beaded or 'Toulouse' crosses" might be a bit pretentious if this illuminator was, as your text seems to suggest, definitely a mere secondary "ornemaniste," but I don't know of another way to say it.

My all-time favorite in the genre is Wilhelm Vöge's famous "Master of the Kings' Heads" sculptor on the north transept of Chartres cathedral:

http://tinyurl.com/yct6qjkv

Vöge gave him that moniker, not for the larger heads on the column figures on that portal, but for several (disembodied) heads which are found at the springing of the archivolts --and which I cannot find a picture of on any of The Innernets.

In other words, one of the premier art historians of his day (a teacher of Erwin Panofsky) named this important sculptor after a relatively minor --albeit significant-- detail of his work.

Your "master" of these characteristic crosses might be an analogous situation.

Or, not.
Note from asker:
Thanks Christopher, but I find that too specific.
Peer comment(s):
neutral Helen Shiner : Agree with many comments, but one cannot call it a Toulouse (or Occitan) cross unless there is a specific connection to the regions of which it is a heraldic symbol: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occitan_cross/And has a specific transl. in French.
25 mins
Beg to disagree, Helen. It is a specific form of cross (like a "Maltese X" or "X of Lorraine"), independent of any regional "connection"; though there might be one to be made in BD's mss. -in which case the specific cross iconography might be dispositive.
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