FLIGHT INTO EGYPT, by Jean Colombe miniature on a leaf from a Book of Hours, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Bourges, c.1480] 123 x 90mm (leaf), 100 x 69mm (miniature excluding border). Joseph, shown in rear view, leads the ass carrying the Virgin and Child in front of an extensive landscape with distant peaks and buildings, and the miracle of the corn. Apart from the clothing of the Holy Family the scene is predominantly painted in delicate shades of green, blue and grey, liquid gold is used sparingly to highlight features of the landscape or sky but is largely reserved for robes and haloes. The miniature is bordered with a simple frame of liquid gold patterned with pink, the opening versicle of vespers written in black capitals on the lower frame, surrounding margins painted pink with gold patterning. On the verso , 14 lines of text in a gothic bookhand on a ruling of red, text justification: 64 x 43mm, a three-sided border with a ground of liquid gold, with a pink trellis entwined with pansies, grapes and roses, three perching birds and a trompe l'oiel bee, two-line initial of camaïeu d'or on a blue ground with gold foliage, versal initials of gold on grounds alternately dark brown or blue with gold foliage, line-endings of the same colours and forms (losses and abrasions to left-hand margin of recto where once folded back, some surfaces losses affecting frame and landscape beside Joseph, Virgin's robe at hem and Joseph's lower half, small pigment losses on Virgin's hands and her mantle at forehead, the date 1495 in lower margin, and probably the incipit, later additions). This fine miniature is the work of Jean Colombe He was a member of a prominent family of artists in Bourges, the chief town of the duchy of Berry, and was recorded there from 1463 to 1493; with the exception of a few short periods he is believed to have lived and worked there continuously. He was patronised by the queen of Louis XI, Charlotte of Savoy, her daughter Anne de Beaujeu, and various members of the court and was retained by the queen's nephew, Charles I Duke of Savoy, to complete two unfinished manuscripts -- one of them the most celebrated of all Books of Hours, the Très Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry. His work was keenly appreciated by a wider clientele and his workshop was responsible for the production of a large number of manuscripts. The present leaf would once have opened the hour of vespers in the Office of the Virgin. It is an example of the serene and careful execution attributable to Colombe himself and comparable in colouring and evocative landscapes to his work in the Hours of Guyot II Le Peley, sold in these rooms 8 June 2005, lot 31, and now Troyes, Médiathèque de l'Agglomeration Troyenne, Ms 3901.
FLIGHT INTO EGYPT, by Jean Colombe miniature on a leaf from a Book of Hours, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Bourges, c.1480] 123 x 90mm (leaf), 100 x 69mm (miniature excluding border). Joseph, shown in rear view, leads the ass carrying the Virgin and Child in front of an extensive landscape with distant peaks and buildings, and the miracle of the corn. Apart from the clothing of the Holy Family the scene is predominantly painted in delicate shades of green, blue and grey, liquid gold is used sparingly to highlight features of the landscape or sky but is largely reserved for robes and haloes. The miniature is bordered with a simple frame of liquid gold patterned with pink, the opening versicle of vespers written in black capitals on the lower frame, surrounding margins painted pink with gold patterning. On the verso , 14 lines of text in a gothic bookhand on a ruling of red, text justification: 64 x 43mm, a three-sided border with a ground of liquid gold, with a pink trellis entwined with pansies, grapes and roses, three perching birds and a trompe l'oiel bee, two-line initial of camaïeu d'or on a blue ground with gold foliage, versal initials of gold on grounds alternately dark brown or blue with gold foliage, line-endings of the same colours and forms (losses and abrasions to left-hand margin of recto where once folded back, some surfaces losses affecting frame and landscape beside Joseph, Virgin's robe at hem and Joseph's lower half, small pigment losses on Virgin's hands and her mantle at forehead, the date 1495 in lower margin, and probably the incipit, later additions). This fine miniature is the work of Jean Colombe He was a member of a prominent family of artists in Bourges, the chief town of the duchy of Berry, and was recorded there from 1463 to 1493; with the exception of a few short periods he is believed to have lived and worked there continuously. He was patronised by the queen of Louis XI, Charlotte of Savoy, her daughter Anne de Beaujeu, and various members of the court and was retained by the queen's nephew, Charles I Duke of Savoy, to complete two unfinished manuscripts -- one of them the most celebrated of all Books of Hours, the Très Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry. His work was keenly appreciated by a wider clientele and his workshop was responsible for the production of a large number of manuscripts. The present leaf would once have opened the hour of vespers in the Office of the Virgin. It is an example of the serene and careful execution attributable to Colombe himself and comparable in colouring and evocative landscapes to his work in the Hours of Guyot II Le Peley, sold in these rooms 8 June 2005, lot 31, and now Troyes, Médiathèque de l'Agglomeration Troyenne, Ms 3901.
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
