Anonymous central French artists - photo 1
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Anonymous central French artists

Lot 36
13.07.2022 10:30UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 37 800
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 794512
Lot 36 | Anonymous central French artists
Estimate value
£ 30 000 – 50 000
Anonymous central French artists

Book of Hours, use of Rome, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [central France, perhaps the Bourbonnais or Auvergne, first quarter 16th century]

An iconographically and textually extravagant Hours, profusely illuminated with 92 miniatures and highly personalised by its original owner: a fine example of turn-of-the century provincial illumination, from the Bourbonnais or Auvergne regions.



180 x 116mm. ii + 169 + ii leaves, complete, 22 lines, ruled space: 116 x 64mm, each text leaf with a one-sided foliate border, large initials in blue on red grounds, illuminated initials throughout, 17 full-page miniatures within full architectural borders and 51 smaller miniatures within three-sided borders, calendar with 24 bas-de-page miniatures with zodiac signs and occupations of the month (rodent damage affecting a number of leaves, especially the opening gatherings, expertly repaired, dampstaining and creasing to margins, sporadic losses of pigment). 18th-century morocco gilt, brass cornerpieces, clasps and catches (restored, the manuscript rebound).



Provenance:

The original owner has himself prominently represented twice in the manuscript: the first time alongside his wife kneeling before a golden statue of the Virgin and Child on f.58, at sext in the Hours of the Conception; the second on his own, kneeling in prayer before the Virgin and Child and St Joseph, his patron saint (a bishop) standing behind him, on f.132, opening the Obsecro te. This leaf and f.13 carry erased coats of arms that show remnants of blue and red; the same coat of arms appears on f.ii: it too is erased, but it is quarterly, with red chevrons at 2 and 3; a second coat of arms faces it, quarterly, 1 and 4 a checky of 9 pieces argent and gules, 2 and 3 a barry of 6 or and sable, the whole surmounted by a coronet, a helmet and a wildman and supported by two wildmen, the Order of St Michael below. The checky of 9 pieces argent and gules belongs to the Boisy family. In 1503 Charlotte Gouffier de Boisy (later Governess of the Children of France), daughter of Artus Gouffier de Boisy, Knight of the Order of St Michel, Grand Master of France and advisor to Francois I, married Rene de Cossé, Lord of Cossé and Brissac: his coat of arms is sable three bars or indented below, but the bars are not always indented, as in the present manuscript.



Content: Calendar ff.1-12v; Gospel extracts ff.13-17v; Passion according to St John ff.18-26v; Hours of the Virgin, use of Rome, with long Hours of the Cross, Holy Spirit and Conception of the Virgin intermixed ff.27-83: matins f.27, lauds f.33, prime f.44v, terce f.50, sext f.54v, none f.59, vespers f.64, compline f.71; Seven Penitential Psalms and litany ff.84-99v; Office of the Dead, use of Rome, ff.100-129; O Intemerata and Stabat mater 130-131v; Obsecro te, in the masculine, f.132v-137; suffrages and prayers, in Latin and French (including one against fevers) ff.137-169.



To have a full Hours of the Cross, Holy Spirit and Hours of the Conception intermixed among the Office of the Virgin, all illustrated with a full cycle of miniatures, is extremely rare. Perhaps the Hours of the Conception point to the owner's desire for an heir.



Illumination:

There are at least two hands at work in the present manuscript, all drawing on turn-of-the-century Parisian models. The scenes are treated in a rather archaic style, harking back to the end of the 15th century: for example we see echoes of the style of the Master of Jacques de Besançon in the exquisite figure of the Virgin in pure profile at f.71 (for comparison, see the Presentation in the Temple at f.58 of Paris, BnF, Lat. 1366). But the artists here have adapted to their time by imitating the architectural vocabulary of the frames fashionable in this period, as used by the Master of Claude de France and imitators. François Avril has kindly brought to our attention a Book of Hours in Tours, Bibliothèque municipale, 2283, which reveals a similar debt to the Master of Claude de France. The style of our manuscript though is quite different and not localisable in Touraien, and Avril suggests a localisation in Central France, and specifically in the Bourbonnais or Auvergne.



The illuminators of the present Hours, though influenced by their Parisian counterparts, are nonetheless highly individual and inventive: particularly striking are the representations of the Agony in the Garden (f.18), set against a dramatic sunset landscape, the figures of Christ, the sleeping apostles and the furtive guards led by Judas all flecked in streaks of evening gold; the Rest on the Flight into Egypt (f.64), which highly unusually depicts the apocryphal legend in which Jesus commands the date-palm to lower its branches so Joseph can reach and pick them for the Virgin, who was longing for food after three days of travel; and the Triump of Death (f.100), with a skeletal spear-wielding Death confronts a group of archers, having slain a commoner, a king and a pope.



The subjects of the full page miniatures are as follows: John on Patmos, with coat of arms in border f.13; Agony in the Garden f.18; Annunciation f.27; Visitation f.33; Crucifixion f.40v; Pentecost f.42; Meeting at the Golden Gate f.43; Nativity f.44v; Annunciation to the Shepherds f.50; Adoration of the Magi f.54v; Presentation in the Temple f.59; Rest on the Flight into Egypt f.64; Coronation of the Virgin f.71; Bathsheba f.84; the Triump of Death f.100; owner with patron bishop Saint before the Holy Family, with coat of arms in border f.132; Mass of St Gregory f.149v.



The smaller miniatures are on ff.14v, 15v, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23, 23v, 24v, 47v, 48v, 49, 52v, 53, 53v, 57, 57v, 58, 61v, 62v, 63, 69, 69v, 70, 75, 76, 76v, 130, 131v, 137, 137v, 138, 138v, 139, 139v, 140, 140v, 142, 143, 144, 144v, 145v, 146, 146v, 147, 147v, 148v, 166, 167,167v, 168.





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Place of origin:Western Europe, France, Europe
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