Good. Well, this probably is all child's play to a specialist, I suppose. The other mosaics were 12-13c, and this one is 6c, since it seems to be the enthroned
Christ flanked by angels at the
head of the martyrs in the nave mosaic.
Let us know if you find an earlier 'hand of justice' wand, preferably an actual object or, as with Louis IX, a
king holding one. I can't think of a Carolingian one.
http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?aid=856633845&item=1343908This is all I could find, better than a line drawing, for the Treasure of St.-Denis one, "Romanesque"**
So far as
French regalia are concerned, it is not(?) a blessing gesture. What I
ran across was a description of one of the latest truly regal
portraits, Callet's of Louis
XVI (1789), 'with all the props in place: the great velvet mantle with fleurs-de-lys, the collars of royal orders, the crown, the "hand of justice", the short
sceptre, the "sword of Charlemagne", and a massive throne.' It was in a review of an exhibit, Citizens and Kings, now
London Royal Academy (lately
Portraits public,
Portraits privés at the Grand Palais in
Paris), by John Rogister, TLS Feb 9 2007. As I said, I wasn't looking for '
hands'; I always read the art reviews first when the TLS
comes.
But that coin of
Max. Daia, above Reply #61, really nags at me.
Pat L.
** P.S. I found the Ingres
portrait at the very bottom of the Popery web page, with the very St-Denis Hand. Trust Ingres! That really does look like his
Jupiter, the one from the ceiling of the Charles X wing of the Louvre. But that's not evidence for us, except for Napoleon.