Tomb of Philippe Pot

Tomb of Philippe Pot
Material	Limestone, paint, lead, gold
Size	Height: 181 cm (71 in) Width: 260 cm (100 in) Depth: 167 cm (66 in) Each pleurant c. 135 cm (53 in) to 145 cm (57 in) high[1][2]
Created	c. 1480
Period/culture	Northern Renaissance
Present location	Louvre Museum, Paris
Identification	RF 795[1]

The tomb of Philippe Pot is a funerary monument in the Louvre in Paris. It was commissioned by the military leader and diplomat Philippe Pot around the year 1480 to be used for his burial at the chapel of Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Cîteaux Abbey, Dijon, France. His effigy shows him recumbent on a slab, his hands raised in prayer, and wearing armour and a heraldic tunic. The eight mourners (pleurants) are dressed in black hoods and act as pallbearers carrying him towards his grave. Pot commissioned the tomb when he was around 52 years old, 13 years before he died in 1493. The detailed inscriptions on the slab's sides emphasise his achievements and social standing.

Pot was a godson of Philip the Good and became a knight of the Golden Fleece. He served under two of the last Valois Dukes of Burgundy, Philip the Good and Charles the Bold. After the latter's defeat by René II, Duke of Lorraine at the Battle of Nancy in 1477, Pot switched allegiance to the French king, Louis XI, who appointed him grand seneschal of Burgundy. After the king died in 1483, Pot served under Louis's son, Charles VIII.

The individual figures are made of limestone, decorated with paint, gold, and lead. The monument is recorded as commissioned in 1480, but its designers or artisans are not mentioned. Art historians generally cite Antoine Le Moiturier as the most likely designer of the pleurants, based on circumstantial evidence, including similarities to others of his known works.^[3] The monument was seized during the French Revolution, and after changing hands several times, was placed in a private garden in Dijon in the 19th century. Since 1899, it has been in the Louvre Museum's collection and on permanent display. The piece underwent a major restoration between 2016 and 2018.