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Auction archive: Lot number 26

BOOK OF HOURS, use of Metz, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED...

Estimate
£80,000 - £120,000
ca. US$124,451 - US$186,676
Price realised:
£104,500
ca. US$162,564
Auction archive: Lot number 26

BOOK OF HOURS, use of Metz, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED...

Estimate
£80,000 - £120,000
ca. US$124,451 - US$186,676
Price realised:
£104,500
ca. US$162,564
Beschreibung:

BOOK OF HOURS, use of Metz, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM , [eastern France, probably Metz or Troyes, c.1465-70].
BOOK OF HOURS, use of Metz, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM , [eastern France, probably Metz or Troyes, c.1465-70]. 180 x 125mm. i + 132 + i leaves (lacking two, including one with a miniature), with foliation every 10 leaves including the blank flyleaf followed here, ruled space: 92 x 60mm, SEVENTEEN LARGE ARCH-TOPPED MINIATURES surrounded by FULL-PAGE BORDERS of varying styles, TWENTY-FOUR ROUNDEL CALENDAR MINIATURES (water-staining to front and back flyleaves and ff.103 and 104, some off-setting and marginal marks throughout, slight rubbing to five Calendar roundels and small smudge to top of miniature on f.20). Late 17th-century French brown calf gilt (rebacked and with slight rubbing). Red morocco box gilt with pelican crest. PROVENANCE: (1) The style of illumination is associable with eastern France and the liturgical use of the Offices of the Virgin and of the Dead and the listing of St Glodesindis in the Litany point more precisely to Metz as its destination or place of production. (2) A religious poem written in a 17th-century hand on the front pastedown is signed 'F d L' and the name, Lois (presumably Louis) Fremanger in an 18th-century hand is on the front fly-leaf: a Louis Frémanger was curé of Foulognes, Normandy in the 18th century. (3) A description of the manuscript written on a sheet of paper pasted to the front flyleaf has the stamp of Libraire Théophile Belin, Paris, and the armorial bookplate of the US diplomat HERBERT CLAIBORNE PELL JUNIOR (1884-1961) inside the front cover records its purchase at Belin in 1923. (4) By descent to his son CLAIBORNE DE BORDA PELL (1918-2009) , US Senator for Rhode Island for 36 years until 1997, best known as sponsor of the Pell Grants, to provide financing to American college students and for his part in drafting the original charter for the United Nations. CONTENT: Calendar ff.2-13v; Suffrages to Sts Barbara, Agnes, Margaret, Sebastian and Francis ff.15-23; Gospel Extract from St John ff.24-25v; Short Hours of the Cross ff.26-31; Prayer to the Virgin f.32r & v; Office of the Virgin, use of Metz, lacking one leaf from Sext and the beginning of Vespers ff.33-74v; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.75-89v; Office of the Dead ff.90-128; Obsecro te ff.130-133v. Folios 14, 19 and 129 blank on recto and verso. ILLUMINATION: The Master of Michel Jouvenel des Ursins has been described as ‘without doubt one of the most fascinating as well as mysterious personalities of 15th-century French illumination’ (F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France 1440-1520 , 1993, p.185 ). This manuscript is an exciting new addition to his oeuvre. Named from the Book of Hours made for the bailli of Troyes and his wife (Paris, BnF, n. a. lat. 3113) this artist’s style is one of surprising individuality and invention: his figures are animated and characterful, the palette often dramatic and the execution of a delicate refinement. In the present manuscript the Calendar roundels and seven of the miniatures are all splendid examples of this original and intriguing style and include characteristically unearthly landscapes with unstable outcrops and mounds and grounds riven by fissures under fiery and surreal skies. The eccentric border around the martyrdom of St Sebastian (f.20) is clearly also his work. The remaining miniatures are the work of two other illuminators, one adept in an attractive and conventional style but the other, the author of appealing figures of Saints Barbara and Margaret, has an elegant individuality of his own. The subjects of the large miniatures are St Barbara f.15, St Agnes f.17, St Margaret f.18, St Sebastian f.20, Stigmatisation of St Francis f.22, St John on Patmos f.24, Crucifixion f.26, Virgin and Child enthroned in a landscape f.32, Annunciation f.33, Visitation f.43, Nativity f.52, Annunciation to the Shepherds f. 57, Adoration of the Magi f.61, Presentation in the Temple f.63, Coronation of the Virgin f.71, David in pra

Auction archive: Lot number 26
Auction:
Datum:
15 Jul 2015
Auction house:
Christie's
15 July 2015, London, King Street
Beschreibung:

BOOK OF HOURS, use of Metz, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM , [eastern France, probably Metz or Troyes, c.1465-70].
BOOK OF HOURS, use of Metz, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM , [eastern France, probably Metz or Troyes, c.1465-70]. 180 x 125mm. i + 132 + i leaves (lacking two, including one with a miniature), with foliation every 10 leaves including the blank flyleaf followed here, ruled space: 92 x 60mm, SEVENTEEN LARGE ARCH-TOPPED MINIATURES surrounded by FULL-PAGE BORDERS of varying styles, TWENTY-FOUR ROUNDEL CALENDAR MINIATURES (water-staining to front and back flyleaves and ff.103 and 104, some off-setting and marginal marks throughout, slight rubbing to five Calendar roundels and small smudge to top of miniature on f.20). Late 17th-century French brown calf gilt (rebacked and with slight rubbing). Red morocco box gilt with pelican crest. PROVENANCE: (1) The style of illumination is associable with eastern France and the liturgical use of the Offices of the Virgin and of the Dead and the listing of St Glodesindis in the Litany point more precisely to Metz as its destination or place of production. (2) A religious poem written in a 17th-century hand on the front pastedown is signed 'F d L' and the name, Lois (presumably Louis) Fremanger in an 18th-century hand is on the front fly-leaf: a Louis Frémanger was curé of Foulognes, Normandy in the 18th century. (3) A description of the manuscript written on a sheet of paper pasted to the front flyleaf has the stamp of Libraire Théophile Belin, Paris, and the armorial bookplate of the US diplomat HERBERT CLAIBORNE PELL JUNIOR (1884-1961) inside the front cover records its purchase at Belin in 1923. (4) By descent to his son CLAIBORNE DE BORDA PELL (1918-2009) , US Senator for Rhode Island for 36 years until 1997, best known as sponsor of the Pell Grants, to provide financing to American college students and for his part in drafting the original charter for the United Nations. CONTENT: Calendar ff.2-13v; Suffrages to Sts Barbara, Agnes, Margaret, Sebastian and Francis ff.15-23; Gospel Extract from St John ff.24-25v; Short Hours of the Cross ff.26-31; Prayer to the Virgin f.32r & v; Office of the Virgin, use of Metz, lacking one leaf from Sext and the beginning of Vespers ff.33-74v; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.75-89v; Office of the Dead ff.90-128; Obsecro te ff.130-133v. Folios 14, 19 and 129 blank on recto and verso. ILLUMINATION: The Master of Michel Jouvenel des Ursins has been described as ‘without doubt one of the most fascinating as well as mysterious personalities of 15th-century French illumination’ (F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France 1440-1520 , 1993, p.185 ). This manuscript is an exciting new addition to his oeuvre. Named from the Book of Hours made for the bailli of Troyes and his wife (Paris, BnF, n. a. lat. 3113) this artist’s style is one of surprising individuality and invention: his figures are animated and characterful, the palette often dramatic and the execution of a delicate refinement. In the present manuscript the Calendar roundels and seven of the miniatures are all splendid examples of this original and intriguing style and include characteristically unearthly landscapes with unstable outcrops and mounds and grounds riven by fissures under fiery and surreal skies. The eccentric border around the martyrdom of St Sebastian (f.20) is clearly also his work. The remaining miniatures are the work of two other illuminators, one adept in an attractive and conventional style but the other, the author of appealing figures of Saints Barbara and Margaret, has an elegant individuality of his own. The subjects of the large miniatures are St Barbara f.15, St Agnes f.17, St Margaret f.18, St Sebastian f.20, Stigmatisation of St Francis f.22, St John on Patmos f.24, Crucifixion f.26, Virgin and Child enthroned in a landscape f.32, Annunciation f.33, Visitation f.43, Nativity f.52, Annunciation to the Shepherds f. 57, Adoration of the Magi f.61, Presentation in the Temple f.63, Coronation of the Virgin f.71, David in pra

Auction archive: Lot number 26
Auction:
Datum:
15 Jul 2015
Auction house:
Christie's
15 July 2015, London, King Street
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