Beschreibung:

506321-126 Collection of leaves from Books of Hours, in Latin and French, decorated or illuminated manuscripts on parchment [fifteenth and early sixteenth century] Eighteen leaves (including 2 bifolia): (1) leaf with prayers that follow a Litany, with small miniatures in roundels in the margins probably enclosing scenes most probably from the life of St. Alexius, the figures here identified by hairline white inscriptions in French within the miniatures, these within full borders of acanthus and other foliage enclosing birds, text block enclosed on three sides by gold and coloured bars, delicately painted human faces in the 2-line initials, the initials in red or blue on coloured grounds heightened with liquid gold penwork, line-fillers in same, rubrics in gold, single column of 13 lines, small spots, else excellent condition, 185 by 145mm., France, mid-fifteenth century; (2) leaf from the Suffrages of Saints with two small square miniatures (SS. Michael the Archangel and John the Baptist) in realistic gilt frames, decorated borders of acanthus and other foliage on blank parchment or dull-gold grounds on three sides (one page with a snarling dragon in the border), initials in liquid gold on burgundy or pale blue grounds, rubrics in blue, single column of 21 lines, small spots and stains, else excellent condition, 178 by 118mm., France (Paris), c. 1480; (3) leaf with decorated borders of acanthus leaves and other foliage, including an appealing fantastical animal formed from a bird, with the head of a long-horned goat, and a long eared toothy muzzle emerging from his bottom, initials in blue touched with white on gold grounds, line-fillers in same, 14 lines of text in single column, small spots, else excellent condition, 130 by 98mm., France (probably Paris), 1460s; plus fifteen other leaves including two with small miniatures (one of these with miniatures in camaïeu d'or with other leaves from same parent manuscript appearing in Sotheby's, 24 June 1986, lot 36, and 5 December 2000, lot 27, the same again 6 December 2001, lot 17, as well as Maggs Bros., cat. 1298, Illuminations, 2001, no. 48), four with decorated borders including animals and birds and a leaf produced by the 1520s workshop with thin ropework borders Item (1) here is from the same parent manuscript as a leaf also with scene from the life of St. Alexius sold Sotheby's, 6 July 2000, lot 27, and identified there as in the style of the Coëtivy Master. Other leaves can be found in Ferrini, cat. 1 (1987), nos. 83-5; Maggs Bros., Bulletin 21 (1997), no. 47; at least three leaves sold by C.E. Puckett, his IM-1473, -4094 and -1518; and the Jeanne Miles Blackburn collection (see exhibition catalogue of Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999, no. 49, p. 52, that leaf with scenes from life of St. Catherine of Alexandria). The parent manuscript was owned by E. Clark Stillman (1907-95), university professor and cultural attaché of the United States in Belgium, later fellow of the Pierpont Morgan Museum and a partner in the dealership of Lathrop C. Harper.