Couly Nouailher was a French enameller. Also known as Colin, a patois diminutive for Nicolas. The family name is also written as Noylier, Noualier, Noalher. His signed works are inscribed ‘Colin’ or with the initials ‘CN’. He was the son of Couly Nouailher I, also an enameller.
This plaque is from a series depicting the Nine Heroes — a grouping of valiant figures popularized by Jacques de Longuyon’s early fourteenth-century romance Les Voeux du Paon (The Vows of the Peacock).
On a pair of hollow copper bases, each consisting of six rectangular side panels of similar dimensionssealed by hexagonal top and base sections with broad borders and central, circular wells, The Ages of Love is depicted in grisaille enamel and translucent enamels with silver-grey details and with enlevage and gilding. The counter-enamel is not visible.
Stylistic pecularities of the enamel painting and the colour scheme make it possible to attribute this plaque to the circle of craftsmen who worked in the manner of Couly Nouailher.
Painted enamel plaques assembled into miniature altarpieces were popular in the 16th century. The series of 12 plaques depicting the Passion to which this example belongs was based on engravings by Lucas van Leyden.
