Robert Mangot (died 1566) was a French goldsmith who supplied the royal court and Mary, Queen of Scots. He was a son of the goldsmith Pierre Mangot who worked for Francis I of France.Michèle Bimbenet-Privat, Les orfèvres parisiens de la Renaissance (Paris, 1992), p. 545.
Pierre Mangot
Pierre Mangot was a goldsmith who worked for Francis I of France.Thierry Crépin-Leblond, Marie Stuart: le destin français d'une reine d'Écosse, (Paris, 2008), p. 56: Germain Bapst, Histoire des joyaux de la couronne de France, 1 (Paris, 1889), p. 56.Timothy Schroder, A Marvel to Behold: Gold and Silver at the Court of Henry VIII (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2020), pp. 172, 195, 200, 307, 318. Works attributed to Pierre Mangot include the "Royal Clock Salt" now owned by the London Goldsmith's Company which once belonged to Henry VIII of England,Elizabeth Cleland, The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England (New York, 2023), p. 104 fig. 36: Ilaria Toesca, 'Silver in the Time of François I: A New Identification', Apollo, 90 (October, 1969), pp. 292–297: J. F. Hayward, 'The restoration of the Tudor clock salt', The Goldsmiths Review (1972/3), pp. 27–31.A Royal treasure and its role in the Renaissance court: the Royal Clock Salt and may have been a gift from Francis II when Henry married Anne Boleyn,Susan Foister, Holbein in England (London: Tate, 2006), p. 78: Yvonne Hackenbroch, Enseignes: Renaissance Hat Jewels (Florence, 1996), p. 382. and a gold casket decorated with Limoges enamel plaques held by the British Museum known as the "Sibyls Casket".British Museum, casket, WB.23Michèle Bimbenet-Privat, 'Pierre Mangot and Goldsmiths at the Court of Francis I of France', Timothy Schroder & Dora Thornton, A Royal Renaissance Treasure and its Afterlives: The Royal Clock Salt (London: British Museum, 2021), pp. 40-60.
Mangot's hallmark appears on the silver-gilt mount of a book belonging to Trinity College, Cambridge, which seems to be depicted in the portrait of Thomas Cromwell by Hans Holbein the Younger,Owen Emmerson: Thomas Cromwell DiscoveryTrinity College prayer book, University of Cambridge'A Bejeweled Prayer Book in a Cambridge Library', Artnet Art News, 12 June 2023 and on a jewelled cup known as "Le baguier de Pierre Mangot".Le baguier de Pierre Mangot, BnF Gallica Mangot's use of a hallmark depicting a crowned "M" was identified by a Louvre curator, Michèle Bimbenet-Privat.Pierre Mangot, casket: MJV SoudantGlenn Richardson, "Personal gift giving at the Field of the Cloth of Gold", Thomas Betteridge & Suzannah Lipscomb, Henry VIII and the Court: Art, Politics and Performance (Ashgate, 2013), pp. 57–58.
Pierre Mangot and Louis Deuzan or Denzen mounted jewels and made an imperial-style arched crown for the funeral regalia of Louis XII, in 1515.Léon marquis de Laborde, Glossaire Français du Moyen Âge (Paris, 1872), p. 207, this detail is not in a printed source for the funeral, which describes a crown of pewter made for the king's effigy, 'Comptes des dépenses faites aux obsèques de Louis XII', Archives curieuses de l'Histoire de France, 1:2 (Paris, 1835), p. 80. Mangot made a crown for the effigy of Anne of Brittany at her funeral, and was possibly, with Geoffroy Jacquet and the artist Jean Perréal, the maker of her crowned heart reliquary (which survives at the Musée Dobrée).Jacques Santrot, Les doubles funérailles d'Anne de Bretagne: le corps et le coeur (Geneva: Droz, 2017), pp. 216–9, 568
Pierre Mangot and Jean Hotman probably supplied the many gifts made by Francis I to Henry VIII and his courtiers at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520.Glenn Richardson, "Personal gift giving at the Field of the Cloth of Gold", Thomas Betteridge & Suzannah Lipscomb, Henry VIII and the Court: Art, Politics and Performance (Ashgate, 2013), pp. 57–58. Pierre Mangot supplied Francis I with some items before the King went to Italy, and was paid for these pieces and a covered cup and a covered jug in January 1527.Collection des ordonnances des rois de France: Catalogue des actes de François 1er, 6 (Paris, 1894), p. 13 no. 18973 In 1526, Mangot provided a gold collar of the Order of Saint Michael given to John Stewart, Duke of Albany, in compensation for his losses in the Italian campaign.Alfred Darcel, 'Orfèvres Parisiennes et Blésois', Revue de la art Français: Nouvelles archives de l'art français (Avril 1884), p. 52 Mangot replaced two collars of the Order that the King had lost at Pavia.Collection des ordonnances des rois de France: Supplément, 1527–1547, 5 (Paris, 1892), p. 769 no. 18673. Mangot made more collars of the Order in 1527, one intended to compensate Francis de Bourbon, Count of St. Pol for his service in Italy.Collection des ordonnances des rois de France: Supplément, 1527–1547, 6 (Paris, 1894), p. 49 no. 19154.
In January 1529/30, Pierre Mangot's servant or assistant, Pierre Le Mussier, received payment for a chain made as a diplomatic gift for the English ambassador, George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford.Collection des ordonnances des rois de France: 1515–1530: Actes de François Ier, 1 (Paris, 1887), p. 687 no. 3594. Mangot made a coronet for the wedding of Catherine de' Medici and the Duke of Orleans in 1533.Germain Bapst, Histoire des joyaux de la couronne de France (Paris, 1889), p. 24
As well as the chains of the Order of Saint Michael, Pierre Mangot was paid for dress accessories by Francis I, including "bordeures" (worn on a French hood), ornaments for sleeves, and paternosters. He made a gold crown for Catherine de' Medici to wear as Duchess of Orléans at her wedding. His assistant Pierre le Messier (or "le Mercier") sometimes received the payments.Les comptes des batiments du roi, 1528–1571, pp. 217, 389–391.
Some older sources include another goldsmith called Pierre Mangot, or perhaps the same man. He married the widow of Louis Deuzan or Denzan, Jehanne Boulyer, who owned property in Blois. He died around 1563, and is known as Pierre Mangot II. Their daughter, Magdalene Mangot married another goldsmith, Gilles de Suramond or Suraulmone, who worked for Henry II of France.'Documents sur les arts en Blesois', Réunion des sociétés des beaux-arts, 33 (Paris, 1909), p. 67 Pierre Mangot II made gold chains for diplomatic gifts to ambassadors,Germain Bapst, Histoire des joyaux de la couronne de France (Paris, 1889), p. 10 fn and Gilles de Suramond worked in enamels and made collars of the Order of Saint Michael.Jean François Louis d' Hozier, Les chevaliers bretons de Saint Michel depuis la fondation de l'ordre (Nantes, 1884), p. xxix.Alfred Darcel, 'Orfèvres Parisiennes et Blésois', Revue de la art Français: Nouvelles archives de l'art français (Avril 1884), pp. 50–2
Robert Mangot Robert Mangot, Pierre's son and successor, was based in Paris. One of Pierre Mangot's apprentices, a compagnon or facteur, François Dujardin, is also regarded as a successor to Pierre as a goldsmith to the French court and served Charles IX of France.Germain Bapst, Histoire des joyaux de la couronne de France (Paris, 1889), p. 56 Dujardin was Pierre Mangot's facteur in October 1538, and received payment for another collar of the Order given to Francis de Bourbon, Count of St. Pol, by now the Duke of Estouteville.Collection des ordonnances des rois de France: Catalogue des actes de François 1er, 8 (Paris, 1905), p. 270 no. 31814
In 1551 Robert Mangot supplied a gem of green jasper spotted with red, known as a heliotrope, engraved with the figure of an Indian.Léon, marquis de Laborde, Notice des émaux exposés dans les galeries du Musée du Louvre, 2 (Paris, 1853), p. 349. He attended the funeral of Henry II of France as a royal goldsmith, as did his kinsman Gilles de Suramond and Jean II Cousin (died 1568), a goldsmith and medal engraver.Louis-Charles-Marie de Bodin comte de Galembert, Funérailles du roy Henry II (Paris, 1869), p. 62.
The young Mary, Queen of Scots, had jewels repaired and refashioned by Parisian goldsmiths including Robert Mangot, Jean Doublet and Mathurin Lussault. An account for the household of the royal children in 1551 held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France includes some of Mangot's bills, and is digitized and available online.Ève de Castro, Enfant roi (Plon, 2013), see external links. Mangot made gold paternoster beads and "gerbes" for her rosaries. An entry for these reads:Pour xlviii grosses gerbes d'or poisant ensemble onc quatre gros pour garnir paternostres ... Pour facon desdict gerbesFor 48 large "gerbes" of gold weighing one and a quarter ounces to garnish paternosters ...For the fashion (making) of the said "gerbes"
The "gerbes" in this account seem to be small entredeux spacing beads. Larger beads used in rosaries to separate decades were known as "gauds" in Scottish and English inventories.John Warrack, Domestic life in Scotland, 1488-1688; a sketch of the development of furniture and household usage (London, 1920), p. 44 The wife of John Port, a servant of Henry VIII, owned a rosary described as a "pair of coral beads gawdyd with gawdys of silver".John Nichols, Illustrations of the manners and expences of antient times in England (London, 1797), p. 128 A belt or girdle, refashioned in 1566,Joseph Robertson, Collection of Inventories (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 120. with knots of pearl and coral with gold "jarbis" or "gerbes" appears in the 1579 inventory of jewels that Mary left behind in Edinburgh.Thomas Thomson, Collection of Inventories (Edinburgh, 1815), pp. 262 no. 9, 290 no. 25 The goldsmith George Heriot held a necklace with 80 gold "jerbs" belonging to Margaret Douglas, Countess of Bothwell the wife of Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell.Inventory of Original Documents in the Archives of George Heriot's Hospital (Edinburgh, 1857), pp. 23-4 noted as "jerlis"."Jarbe", DOST/DSL
Mangot provided Mary with a girdle or belt and a descending chain, made in Spanish fashion, and supplied 1,500 gold buttons to decorate bands of silver embroidery that edged a black velvet gown, with several other items and pieces for the other royal children. At the same time, Jean Doublet made several accessories for Mary, and silver mounts for a coffer or coffret for Elisabeth of Valois.Thierry Crépin-Leblond, Marie Stuart: le destin français d'une reine d'Écosse, (Paris, 2008), pp. 56, 70: Alphonse de Ruble, La première jeunesse de Marie Stuart (Paris, 1891), 37-40, 297-300: See external links for the passages transcribed by Ruble.BnF, Côme Clausse, Comptes des Enfants de France pour l'année 1551, Fr. 11207 ff. 317r–321r Jean Doublet became the goldsmith to Francis II of France as Dauphin.Hector de la Ferrière, Lettres de Catherine de Médicis: 1533–1563, 1 (Paris, 1880), p. xlii.
References
External links Thomas Cromwell's Book of Hours: Trinity College Library, Cambridge Thomas Cromwell Discovery: Owen Emmerson Comptes des Enfants de France pour l'année 1551, BnF Gallica, MS Français 11207 Agate flask with three handles, Prado "Pierre Mangot, L'orfèvre des Rois. Paris 1535": Short film showing a gold casket. MJV Soudant