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- The “ordre et amiable compagnie de Monsieur Saint-Michel” was founded by Louis XI of France on 1 August in 1469 in the chapel at the château of Amboise. The formal insignia included a collar with alternate knots and the scallop shells of St. James – which can be seen on works of art in the Wallace Collection, e.g. S153 and S362, and on the bust of Charles IX by Germain Pilon (S154). For less formal occasions, chevaliers would wear a gold chain and pendant showing the archangel St. Michael driving the devil to the ground with his lance. This type of pendant can be seen in a portrait of the Duc d’Estampes (P532), that of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (P534) and François Ier (P551).
Louis XIV reformed the order between 1661 and 1668. Comparisons with the very few other similar extant pendants confirm that W122 is a mid-17th century double-sided pendant, designed to be suspended from the contemporary enamel collar, which was now composed of “s” links interspersed with scallop shells. Between 1612 and 1666 about seventy Dutch Republicans were honoured with the Saint-Michel for services to France. The Musée de la Légion d’Honneur et des Ordres de Chevalerie in Paris has a collar with a very similar pendant on loan, and there is another in the Paleis Het Loo, Apeldoorn (INV.E262). The enamel colours of the collars and pendants vary but the basic designs are the same. W122 is therefore a rare survival of an ancient French chivalric order, which was superceded in importance by the foundation of the Ordre du Saint-Esprit in 1578 by Henri III. The order of Saint-Michel continued to exist alongside the Saint-Esprit until the abolition of all French chivalric orders by the decree of August 1791 signed by Louis XVI.
- The “ordre et amiable compagnie de Monsieur Saint-Michel” was founded by Louis XI of France on 1 August in 1469 in the chapel at the château of Amboise. The formal insignia included a collar with alternate knots and the scallop shells of St. James – which can be seen on works of art in the Wallace Collection, e.g. S153 and S362, and on the bust of Charles IX by Germain Pilon (S154). For less formal occasions, chevaliers would wear a gold chain and pendant showing the archangel St. Michael driving the devil to the ground with his lance. This type of pendant can be seen in a portrait of the Duc d’Estampes (P532), that of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (P534) and François Ier (P551).