SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF ST SUSANNA, large miniature with six marginal miniatures on a leaf from a Book of Hours, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF ST SUSANNA, large miniature with six marginal miniatures on a leaf from a Book of Hours, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [?Lyonnais, 1480s]149 x 103mm; the main arched compartment showing the Old Testament Susanna bathing in her garden watched by two elders, the marginal cycle illustrating scenes from the life of the Christian martyr St Susanna, showing her being ordered by Diocletian to marry Maximian, being imprisioned, converting Claudius and Maximus who are then shown being burnt to death at Cumae; two-line initial formed by grey twigs on a liquid gold ground with floral infill, two lines of text in gold; verso with 19 lines of text in black ink in a lettre bâtarde , an illuminated panel border with acanthus and naturalistic flowers, illuminated initial and line-endings (a small pigment loss at lower left corner, one tiny hole). Silk mount, framed and glazed. This rare and engaging leaf dedicated to the virgin and martyr, St Susanna, would have appeared amongst the sequence of suffrages within a Book of Hours. Suffrages to St Susanna rarely appear, and the fact that the saint has been singled out for illustration could suggest she held particular significance for the manuscript's original owner. Other leaves from this very unusual Hours are known, among them another rare subject, St Benignus (sold in these rooms, 8 June 2005, lot 9) and six leaves given in 1856 by Paul Sauvageot to the Louvre (see A. Sauzay, Catalogue du musée Sauvageot , 1861) where they are now MI 1083 and 1083A-E.
SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF ST SUSANNA, large miniature with six marginal miniatures on a leaf from a Book of Hours, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF ST SUSANNA, large miniature with six marginal miniatures on a leaf from a Book of Hours, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [?Lyonnais, 1480s]149 x 103mm; the main arched compartment showing the Old Testament Susanna bathing in her garden watched by two elders, the marginal cycle illustrating scenes from the life of the Christian martyr St Susanna, showing her being ordered by Diocletian to marry Maximian, being imprisioned, converting Claudius and Maximus who are then shown being burnt to death at Cumae; two-line initial formed by grey twigs on a liquid gold ground with floral infill, two lines of text in gold; verso with 19 lines of text in black ink in a lettre bâtarde , an illuminated panel border with acanthus and naturalistic flowers, illuminated initial and line-endings (a small pigment loss at lower left corner, one tiny hole). Silk mount, framed and glazed. This rare and engaging leaf dedicated to the virgin and martyr, St Susanna, would have appeared amongst the sequence of suffrages within a Book of Hours. Suffrages to St Susanna rarely appear, and the fact that the saint has been singled out for illustration could suggest she held particular significance for the manuscript's original owner. Other leaves from this very unusual Hours are known, among them another rare subject, St Benignus (sold in these rooms, 8 June 2005, lot 9) and six leaves given in 1856 by Paul Sauvageot to the Louvre (see A. Sauzay, Catalogue du musée Sauvageot , 1861) where they are now MI 1083 and 1083A-E.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
