Alain of Lille (ca 1128-1202/03)

Lot 56
12.12.2022 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 2 016
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 869455
Lot 56 | Alain of Lille (ca 1128-1202/03)
Estimate value
£ 2 000 – 3 000
Alain of Lille (c.1128-1202/03)
De Sex Alis Cherubim, in Latin, manuscript on vellum [France, c.1200]
An early witness to Alain of Lille’s text on the symbolical significance of the feathers of the Seraphim.

162 x 139mm. A gathering of 4 leaves, the text consecutive, from ‘[...] manifestat satisfactio curat’ to ‘de radice bonae voluntatis proferre conspiciunt’ (Migne, PL, 210, 177-179), 22 lines in a rounded gothic hand, blind-ruled, prickings survive (recovered from a binding, with the text of the first and last leaf very faded and rubbed, some staining and wormholing).

Provenance:
Colker MS 76; acquired in 1965 from Maggs.

The object of this confessional opusculum, generally attributed to the French poet and theologian Alain of Lille, or Alanus de Insulis, is to attribute a symbolical significance to every feather in the six wings of the Seraphim (not, as the title would erroneously have it, the Cherubim). Curiously, the author conflates the cherubim with the seraphim in his text too, particularly when he speaks of the visions of Isaiah (seraphs) and of Ezekiel (cherubs) as if pertaining to one and the same choir of angels.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
28.11.2022 – 12.12.2022
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

Related terms