First half of the 12th century. Porphyry and gilded, 16.9" high.

The Eagle of Suger is deservedly the most famous hard-stone vessel of the Middle Ages, but also the strangest, The body of the bird consists of an amphora of red porphyry onto which a neck, wings, a spread tail and feet of engraved vermeil are attached. This vessel comes from the treasure of the Abbey of Saint-Denis, the richest store of treasures ever assembled in a French monastery.

Its "inventor," Suger, took care to tell us about it in his writings. Suger, Abbe of Saint-Denis, was a dominant personality of the Middle Ages—friend of King Louis VI, Counselor of Louis VII, and regent of the kingdom during the letter's crusade with his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine.

A man of humble origins who achieved supreme honors, he made his abbey a splendid artistic center, regarded by modern critics as a cradle of Gothic art. Hostile to the prohibitions of Saint Bernard, his contemporary, he sought to endow his church with magnificent liturgical vessels, deeming nothing too beautiful for divine services.

It was for this purpose that he had the eagle executed. He rediscovered the long-forgotten porphyry urn in a closet. Enchanted by the gloss and beauty of the stone, and adding a stroke of genius, he had it embellished with this setting of vermeil, thus transforming the old receptacle into an incomparable art object. Astonished by the success of his initiative, he had this inscription engraved in Latin around the neck: "It is with gems and gold that this stone deserves to be enshrined. It was a marble, but now it is more precious than a marble."

The eagle may recall certain Roman or Byzantine images, but the accuracy of the carved feather, the imperial movement of the bird's head, and its imperious gaze make it a work in which the naturalistic traits can be seen a forerunners of Gothic style.