Anonymous Bolognese illuminator - photo 1
Anonymous Bolognese illuminator - photo 2

Anonymous Bolognese illuminator

Lot 5
10.07.2024 10:30UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 1 260
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1249886
Lot 5 | Anonymous Bolognese illuminator
Estimate value
£ 2 000 – 3 000
Anonymous Bolognese illuminator
Decorated initial F, on a leaf from an Antiphonal, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Bologna, first quarter 14th century]
A splendid Bolognese leaf closely linked to a magnificent series of liturgical manuscripts produced for the Dominican convent of San Domenico in Bologna.

556 x 376mm. The initial on the verso, opening vespers for the Feast of St Francis (‘Franciscus, vir catholicus et totus apostolicus, Ecclesiae teneri fidem Romanae docuit…’), the initial the height of three staves with foliate extensions forming inner border with burnished gold discs; rubrics in red, 5 lines of text and music on 4-line staves in red, catchword, large penwork initial in red and blue, folio no. ‘160’ inscribed in margin in a later hand on recto (modern vellum repair to upper corner, small losses of gold to a few discs, some minor fading of ink). Provenance: Bloomsbury Auctions, 6 July 2016, lot 79.

This beautiful leaf shares close artistic ties with a magnificent series of liturgical manuscripts produced c.1307-1324/1326 for the Dominican convent of San Domenico in Bologna. From the complete series of choirbooks, ten volumes of the antiphonals and eleven volumes of the graduals are still found in situ in the library of San Domenico (listed there from 1380) and in the Museo Civico Medievale, Bologna (V. Alce and A. d'Amato, La Biblioteca di S. Domenico in Bologna, Florence, 1961, pp.141-69 and E. D'Agostino and P. Alunni, eds., I corali di San Domenico a Bologna, 2005). They represent the most important example of liturgical illumination from Emilia from the first half of the 14th century, and constitute the prototype for a number of other choirbooks executed for San Domenico and other Bolognese religious houses (G. Mariana Canova, Miniature dell' Italia settentrionale nella Fondazione Giorgio Cini, 1978, nos 6-17). Dispersed leaves from these series of choirbooks and for the antiphonal series made for a convent of Dominican nuns in Bologna with initials illuminated by the Seneca Master (First Master of San Domenico), have most recently been listed and reconstructed by Gaudenz Freuler (Italian Miniatures from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Centuries, Silvana, 2013, Vol I, nos.19 & 20, pp.228-271); although these fragments contain historiated initials, the decorative schemes, treatment of initial extensions and accompanying foliate borders share parallels with the present leaf, seen particularly in the use of a shell motif and the palette of blue, red, pale grey and olive green.
Place of origin:Italy, Europe
Auction house category:Books and manuscripts
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
10.07.2024 – 10.07.2024
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
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