Circle of Juan de Carrión of Toledo - photo 1

Circle of Juan de Carrión of Toledo

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£ 3 276
Auction dateClassic
14.12.2022 10:30UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
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ID 870822
Lot 24 | Circle of Juan de Carrión of Toledo
Circle of Juan de Carrión of Toledo

The Sermon on the Mount, historiated initial on a vast leaf from an Antiphonal [Spain, Toledo, c.1480s]

A gargantuan Antiphonal leaf illuminated in Toledo at the end of the 15th century.



c.760 x 530mm. Historiated initial 'H' with the Sermon on the Mount opening the antiphon 'Hoc est preceptum' to be sung at Lauds of the Common of Apostles, 5 lines of text and music on a red stave, rubric in red, within a full Renaissance border with putti (upper margin trimmed, dampstain at top right corner resulting in ink bleeding, moderate cockling, losses of pigment and abrasions at bottom and right margins affecting a putto, remnants of adhesive along top left margin). Mounted.



Provenance:

John Fleming, bookdealer and collector, 17 May 1979.



The present lot is from an enormous Spanish Antiphonal likely produced in Toledo towards the end of the 15th century. The figures with their hooded eyelids and the stylised landscapes finds strong parallels in a Book of Hours illuminated by Juan de Carrión of Toledo (London, British Library Add MS 50004 and Berlin, Kuperstichkabinett, Ms. 78 A 26), an artist who was responsible for the decoration of six choir books at Avila, bearing the arms of Alfonso Carrilo, Bishop of Avila (1498-1514), and who was evidently familiar with the Flemish landscapes of artists in the circle of Willem Vrelant of Bruges, a testament to the increasing cross-cultural influence of Flanders on Spanish manuscript production in the second half of the 15th century. Particularly unusual are the initial staves, composed of deep blue clusters of clam-shaped acanthus with bright red interiors, one side encircled by three red strips: identical staves (though the blue is faded) can be seen in a leaf with the Ascension attributable to the circle of Juan de Carrión sold at Christie's, 9 December 2020, lot 5 (indeed the dimensions, number of lines and script suggest it may even have come from the same volume or set of volumes); and a leaf with King David from a Ferial Psalter commissioned by Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 2nd Duke of Albuquerque upon his marriage in 1485 to Dona Francisca Alvarez de Toledo, daughter of García Alvarez de Toledo, 1st Duke of Alba, sold at Christie's, 21 November 2012, lot 21.





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This lot is offered without reserve.
No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium.
Place of origin:Europe, Spain
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10.12.2022 – 13.12.2022
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