Related Literature
P. Verdier, Catalogue of the painted enamels of the Renaissance, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 1967, pp. 26-29 and 160-169, nos. 17 and 83-103
S. Higgott, Catalogue of glass and Limoges painted enamels, The Wallace Collection, London, 2011, pp. 210-219, nos. 64a & b
O. Bayer, "A public mystery, Lutheran Quarterly XXVI, 2012, pp. 126-12

Verbum Domini manet in aeternum or "The word of God endures forever" was the defiant motto of the Lutheran Reformation taken from the Prophet Isaiah (Isa 40:8) and Saint Peter (Peter 1:25). It is not normally preceded by the verb devora, meaning devour, swallow or enjoy, which may have been added to mock the followers of the Reformation. Limoges enamellers are generally regarded as staunch Catholics. Prophets in similar elaborate drapery feature often in earlier Limoges enamels, including in the Orléans and Baltimore triptychs (see Verdier, op.cit., no. 17) and in a set of twenty-one plaques with standing apostles, sibyls, and prophets by Leonard Limousin in the Walters Art Gallery (inv. no. 44.366). The colour scheme, facial features of the angel and the prophet, and the opulent gilt details point towards the workshop of Colin Nouailher. On the pair of salts representing the Ages of Love in the Wallace collection, monogrammed N and attributed to Nouailher by Higgott, the gilt foliage is executed in a remarkably similar way and the pilasters on the corners of the salts are identical to those on the underside of the bowl of the present tazza.