Hélène Palouzié’s scientific contributions

After some fundamental and pioneering work undertaken between 1850 and 1950, research in the field of France’s gold and silver artefacts developed during the second half of the twentieth century, in particular through in-depth studies of certain regional production centres and some systematic inventories of private and public collections. The services of the Inventaire général, in association with the CNRS, brought their contribution to this research work by establishing normalised vocabularies and analytical methods, through publications and via the national heritage databases. This work has helped contribute to a better appreciation of precious elements of the national heritage, often neglected and damaged over the centuries. The articles here hope to illustrate the unsuspected wealth, in this field, of a mountainous territory such as the north of the Hautes-Alpes department. The interest of hitherto unrecognised artefacts is also underlined: two reliquaries from Montpellier; the discovery of some very fine works such as a baptismal ewer from Mâcon or a covered bowl with the hallmark of the widow of a goldsmith from Rennes, or a monstrance with the prestigious signature of the celebrated goldsmith, François-Désiré Froment-Meurice.