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- The Order of St Michael was founded by Louis XI of France on 1 August in 1469 at the chapel of the château d'Amboise. The formal insignia included a collar with alternate knots and the scallop shells of St James. For less formal occasions, knights would wear a gold chain and pendant showing St Michael driving the devil to the ground with his lance. Louis XIV reformed the order between 1661 and 1668. Comparison with the small number of existing pendants confirms that this example is a mid-17th-century double-sided pendant, designed to be suspended from the contemporary enamel collar, which was by then composed of S-shaped links interspersed with scallop shells.
The pendant is a rare survival of an ancient French chivalric order, which was superceded in importance by the foundation of the Order of the Holy Spirit by Henri III in 1578. The Order of St Michael continued to exist alongside the Holy Spirit until the abolition of all French chivalric orders by a decree of August 1791 signed by Louis XVI.
- The Order of St Michael was founded by Louis XI of France on 1 August in 1469 at the chapel of the château d'Amboise. The formal insignia included a collar with alternate knots and the scallop shells of St James. For less formal occasions, knights would wear a gold chain and pendant showing St Michael driving the devil to the ground with his lance. Louis XIV reformed the order between 1661 and 1668. Comparison with the small number of existing pendants confirms that this example is a mid-17th-century double-sided pendant, designed to be suspended from the contemporary enamel collar, which was by then composed of S-shaped links interspersed with scallop shells.