Anonymous Umbrian or Tuscan illuminator - photo 1

Anonymous Umbrian or Tuscan illuminator

Starting price
£ 10 000
Auction dateClassic
13.12.2023 11:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1105635
Lot 3 | Anonymous Umbrian or Tuscan illuminator
Anonymous Umbrian or Tuscan illuminator

Blessing Christ and David playing the harp assisted by an angel, historiated initial 'A' cut from an illuminated choirbook on vellum [Umbria or Tuscany, final decade 13th century]

An engaging and animated miniature from a choirbook produced in Umbria or Tuscany at the end of the Duecento.



149 x 84mm. The historiated initial 'A' likely opening the introit for the first Sunday in Advent 'Ad te levavi animam meam' (a few losses of pigment and smudges, especially to the robes of King David and the angel, the face of the angel smudged and possibly retouched). Mounted and framed.



Illumination:

The style of illumination is redolent of the Umbrian and Tuscan schools of this period: the deep dark blue background with white filigree decoration, the general composition and the decorative vocabulary are reminiscent of the illumination in the series of choirbooks produced at the end of the 13th century for the Basilica of San Francesco at Assisi by the Master of the Assisi Choirbooks, although our artist is more provincial. The palette, on the other hand, with its bright oranges, is typical of Tuscan manuscripts of the late 13th century (see, for example, a Florentine St Ursula sold at Christie's, 19 October 2023, lot 195).

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