Fireplace Plaque Bearing The Coat Of Arms Of Armand Charles De La Porte De Meilleraye (65x56 Cm)

A fireplace plaque from the second half of the 17th century bearing the arms of Armand Charles de La Porte de Meilleraye (1632-1713) and before 1661, the date of his marriage to Hortense Mancini, niece of Cardinal Mazarin, whose name and arms he then adopted. Son of Marshal-Duke de La Meilleraye, second cousin of Richelieu, and maternal nephew of the Marquis de Cinq-Mars, he was appointed Lieutenant General of the King's armies in 1654, Governor of Upper and Lower Alsace in 1661, and Grand Master of the Artillery of France in 1664, succeeding his father. Knighted in the Order of the Holy Spirit in 1688. Plaque from Saint-Maixent-l'École in Deux-Sèvres. Its weight is 67 kg. Coat of arms: Gules, a crescent argent, charged with five ermine spots sable. Marquis's coronet, supported by two ermines. The plaque's frame, with chamfered corners, is flanked by ermine spots. Our last photo: Drawing of the fireplace plaque with the coat of arms from La Porte de la Meilleraye, 2013.0.27, Georges Turpin, Museum of Art and History of Parthenay in Deux-Sèvres. Bibliography: - PALASI P., Heraldic Fireplace Plaques, Gourcuff Gradenigo, Paris, p. 123, no. 169.