Side 1: Adoration of the Magi.
Side 2: Crucifixion with the Virgin and saint John the Evangelist.
Kneeling angel supporting the volute.
Foliated corner terminals; foliated knop.
Attribution
Unknown
Reverse
Carved in the round.
Provenance
Said to have been been given to the Basilique Notre-Dame du Chêne by Mgr Robert Rousseau (d. 1939), director of the Le Mans seminary and later bishop of Le Puy-en-Velay. He had his coat of arms added to it when it was fitted with a staff in 1925, when he used it as bishop of Le Puy-en-Velay. As he owned the former abbey of Perray-Neuf in Précigné (acquired by his father in 1894), it was believed that the crozier had come from this abbey. However, the good state of preservation of this piece, combined with the fact that it does not feature in the list of findings during the 20th-century excavations of the abbey, suggest that this was not the case.
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