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Auction archive: Lot number 5

SEVEN FULL-PAGE MINIATURES from a Book of Hours, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM

Auction 09.07.2001
9 Jul 2001
Estimate
£7,000 - £10,000
ca. US$9,899 - US$14,141
Price realised:
£16,450
ca. US$23,263
Auction archive: Lot number 5

SEVEN FULL-PAGE MINIATURES from a Book of Hours, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM

Auction 09.07.2001
9 Jul 2001
Estimate
£7,000 - £10,000
ca. US$9,899 - US$14,141
Price realised:
£16,450
ca. US$23,263
Beschreibung:

SEVEN FULL-PAGE MINIATURES from a Book of Hours, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Delft, c.1480] 170-178 x 115-125mm, each leaf with an arch-topped miniature in a burnished gold frame with full border of scrolling acanthus in liquid gold and blue, painted sprays of flowers and fruit and hairline tendrils linking burnished gold disks, a figure with a banderole to one side and an animal or bird below, within a frame of burnished gold (slight fading to flesh tones, Apostles' features likely to have been reinforced in ink on Assumption miniature, most writing on scrolls worn, slight wear to borders). Red leather and cloth box. PROVENANCE: 1. The style of the miniatures shows they were made in Delft. They would have been intended for insertion in a Book of Hours facing rectos of text. 2. Subjects pencilled in English on the reverses (the rectos when bound). ILLUMINATION: The miniatures and borders are by one of the Masters of the Delft Half-Length Figures distinguished by his fine technique, although the half-length border figures that give the group its name have here been replaced by full-lengths. The pastel delicacy of his palette with abundant use of liquid gold is paralleled in an Hours with a Delft calendar (The Hague, KB, Ms 131 G 8) dated to c.1480, which also deploys the elaborate architectural canopies, often hovering, unsupported, over the scenes. The leaves' carefully modelled figures, however, are more like those in an earlier Delft Hours (Oxford, Keble College, ms 77) characterised as being by 'one of the more articulate of the group', see exh. cat. The Golden Age of Dutch Manuscript Painting , Utrecht and New York, 1989, nos 57 and 60, pp.194-197. The Nativity here derives from the same pattern as that in the Keble Hours, with Joseph holding a large candle which will be extinguished by the divine radiance of the Christ Child. The borders with the scroll-bearing figures are not found in the Keble Hours but are typical of the later manuscripts in the group and are probably by the same hand as the miniatures. The curve at the inner edge of the larger leaves shows that they were once bound into what must have been an elaborate Book of Hours, because the subjects go beyond those standard in a more routine production. Their exceptional quality may have been stimulated by an exceptional commission. The Nativity and Adoration of the Kings probably come from prime and sext of the Office of the Virgin; the Crucifixion from the Hours of the Cross; Pentecost from the Hours of the Holy Spirit; the Assumption possibly from compline of the Office of the Virgin but more probably a separate mass or devotion in her honour; the Last Judgement from the Penitential Psalms or the Office of the Dead; the Harrowing of Hell sometimes accompanied the Office of the Dead. The subjects of the miniatures are as follows: 1. Nativity with the Annunciation to the Shepherds in the background. 2. Adoration of the Kings 3. Crucifixion, with the Virgin, St John and the three Maries to the left, soldiers to the right 4. Harrowing of Hell, with Christ reaching into a dramatic Hellmouth for Adam and Eve while John the Baptist, still clad in his camel skin, waits his turn 5. Pentecost 6. Assumption of the Virgin, carried by angels above the bier still held by the Apostles towards Christ who holds out a crown of burnished gold; in the border an angel with a scroll Que est ista que ascendit per desertu(m) sicut 7. Last Judgement (7)

Auction archive: Lot number 5
Auction:
Datum:
9 Jul 2001
Auction house:
Christie's
London, King Street
Beschreibung:

SEVEN FULL-PAGE MINIATURES from a Book of Hours, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Delft, c.1480] 170-178 x 115-125mm, each leaf with an arch-topped miniature in a burnished gold frame with full border of scrolling acanthus in liquid gold and blue, painted sprays of flowers and fruit and hairline tendrils linking burnished gold disks, a figure with a banderole to one side and an animal or bird below, within a frame of burnished gold (slight fading to flesh tones, Apostles' features likely to have been reinforced in ink on Assumption miniature, most writing on scrolls worn, slight wear to borders). Red leather and cloth box. PROVENANCE: 1. The style of the miniatures shows they were made in Delft. They would have been intended for insertion in a Book of Hours facing rectos of text. 2. Subjects pencilled in English on the reverses (the rectos when bound). ILLUMINATION: The miniatures and borders are by one of the Masters of the Delft Half-Length Figures distinguished by his fine technique, although the half-length border figures that give the group its name have here been replaced by full-lengths. The pastel delicacy of his palette with abundant use of liquid gold is paralleled in an Hours with a Delft calendar (The Hague, KB, Ms 131 G 8) dated to c.1480, which also deploys the elaborate architectural canopies, often hovering, unsupported, over the scenes. The leaves' carefully modelled figures, however, are more like those in an earlier Delft Hours (Oxford, Keble College, ms 77) characterised as being by 'one of the more articulate of the group', see exh. cat. The Golden Age of Dutch Manuscript Painting , Utrecht and New York, 1989, nos 57 and 60, pp.194-197. The Nativity here derives from the same pattern as that in the Keble Hours, with Joseph holding a large candle which will be extinguished by the divine radiance of the Christ Child. The borders with the scroll-bearing figures are not found in the Keble Hours but are typical of the later manuscripts in the group and are probably by the same hand as the miniatures. The curve at the inner edge of the larger leaves shows that they were once bound into what must have been an elaborate Book of Hours, because the subjects go beyond those standard in a more routine production. Their exceptional quality may have been stimulated by an exceptional commission. The Nativity and Adoration of the Kings probably come from prime and sext of the Office of the Virgin; the Crucifixion from the Hours of the Cross; Pentecost from the Hours of the Holy Spirit; the Assumption possibly from compline of the Office of the Virgin but more probably a separate mass or devotion in her honour; the Last Judgement from the Penitential Psalms or the Office of the Dead; the Harrowing of Hell sometimes accompanied the Office of the Dead. The subjects of the miniatures are as follows: 1. Nativity with the Annunciation to the Shepherds in the background. 2. Adoration of the Kings 3. Crucifixion, with the Virgin, St John and the three Maries to the left, soldiers to the right 4. Harrowing of Hell, with Christ reaching into a dramatic Hellmouth for Adam and Eve while John the Baptist, still clad in his camel skin, waits his turn 5. Pentecost 6. Assumption of the Virgin, carried by angels above the bier still held by the Apostles towards Christ who holds out a crown of burnished gold; in the border an angel with a scroll Que est ista que ascendit per desertu(m) sicut 7. Last Judgement (7)

Auction archive: Lot number 5
Auction:
Datum:
9 Jul 2001
Auction house:
Christie's
London, King Street
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