Pleurants

Typically they are relatively small, and a group were placed around the sides of a raised tomb monument, perhaps interspersed with armorial decoration, or carrying shields with this.

In the 16th and 17th century the practice of placing anonymous pleurant figures disappeared, although the group at Brou for Margaret of Bourbon were not begun until 1526 at the earliest.

But these were commissioned over 40 years after her death by her daughter, along with tombs for herself and her husband, and reflected the taste of Margaret's lifetime.

[1] Here a side of the chest below the effigy shows eight walking figures in relief in an arcade, led by two mitred clerics.

[5] One end of the chest had a relief of the dead prince, covered by a cloth that leaves his face exposed, being carried by four bearers.