Anonymous Rouennais illuminator - photo 1
Anonymous Rouennais illuminator - photo 2
Anonymous Rouennais illuminator - photo 3
Anonymous Rouennais illuminator - photo 4
Anonymous Rouennais illuminator - photo 5

Anonymous Rouennais illuminator

Sold
£ 25 200
Auction dateClassic
13.12.2023 11:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
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Archive
ID 1105611
Lot 29 | Anonymous Rouennais illuminator
Anonymous Rouennais illuminator

Book of Hours, use of Rouen, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Rouen, third quarter 15th century]

A charming example of an Hours made in Rouen, a leading centre of manuscript production, at the end of the 15th century.



177 x 116mm. 101 leaves, complete, collation: 112, 2-128, 131 (of 2, ii a cancelled blank), modern foliation, 20 lines, ruled space: 96 x 57mm, catchwords survive, rubrics in red, illuminated initials and line fillers throughout, every page with a one-sided border, 14 large arch-topped miniatures within full borders (a little soiled and cockled, some dampstaining and cropping to opening leaves, else in good condition). French 17th century calf gilt, gilt edges (rubbed and scuffed, spine cracked).



Provenance:

(1) The liturgical use is of Rouen and a Rouen origin is confirmed by the entry of St Romanus in gold letters in the calendar (October 23). There is an erased inscription on the inside lower cover.



(2) 20th-century description in German, in pencil to inside lower cover, signed Maggs 1949.



(2) Sotheby's, 12 December 1966, lot 189.



Content: Calendar ff.1-12v; Gospel extracts ff.13-17v; Obsecro te and O intemerata ff.17v-23v; Hours of the Virgin, use of Rouen, with Hours of the Cross and Spirit interspersed, ff.24-60: matins f.24, lauds f.31v, Short Hours of the Cross f.40, Short Hours of the Holy Spirit f.41, prime f.42, terce f.46, sext f.48v, none f.51, vespers f.53v, compline f.56; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.61-74v; Office of the Dead, use of Rouen, ff.75-95; Doulce Dame and Doulx Dieux ff.95v-101v.



Illumination:

The linear compositions, textured gold patterns, emphatically gesturing figures and luminous green-blue hillsides all draw on stock models established by the Master of the Rouen Echevinage (fl.1455-85), the dominant illuminator in Rouen in the second half of the 15th century (see F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France, 1993, pp.170-2).



The subjects of the thirteen miniatures are as follows: St John on Patmos f.13, the Annunciation f.24, the Visitation f.31v, Crucifixion f.40, Pentecost f.41, the Nativity f.42, the Annunciation to the Shepherds f.46, the Adoration of the Magi f.48v, the Presentation in the Temple f.51, the Flight into Egypt f.53v, the Coronation of the Virgin f.56, David in prayer f.61, a burial service f.75 and the Pieta f.95v.

Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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