Circle of Taddeo Crivelli - photo 1
Circle of Taddeo Crivelli - photo 2
Circle of Taddeo Crivelli - photo 3
Circle of Taddeo Crivelli - photo 4
Circle of Taddeo Crivelli - photo 5

Circle of Taddeo Crivelli

Lot 31
13.07.2022 10:30UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 63 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 794539
Lot 31 | Circle of Taddeo Crivelli
Estimate value
£ 40 000 – 60 000
Circle of Taddeo Crivelli

Breviary, for Franciscan use, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Ferrara, c.1465]

A work of great elegance and svelte finish produced for a Franciscan house: a sumptuous and representative example, with illuminated borders on every page, of the work of the Ferrarese illuminators responsible for the Bible of Borso d’Este.



136 x 92mm. 507 leaves, collation: 16, 28 (of 10, lacking i and x), 3-610, 79 (of 10, lacking x), 8-1710, 189 (of 10, lacking x), 199 (of 10, lacking viii), 208 (of 10, lacking iv-v), 21-2210, 238 (of 10, lacking ix-x), 249 (of 10, lacking i), 25-3010, 316, 328 (of 10, lacking i and x), 33-3410, 358 (of 10, lacking v-vi), 3610, 378 (of 10, lacking v-vi), 388 (of 10, lacking v-vi), 39-4010, 418 (of 10, lacking i-ii), 42-4810, 495 (of 6, lacking ii), 50-5110, 524 (of 6?, lacking iii-iv), 53-5410, 556 (of 8, lacking i-ii), most catchwords survive, modern sporadic foliation in pencil followed here, 31 lines of text in two columns, ruled space: 82 x 28mm, initials in red or blue with purple or red penwork decoration throughout, rubrics in red, 36 large and 1 historiated initial, every single page with illuminated borders with flowers, scrolling acanthus, bezants and scrolls (lacking probably 25 leaves, likely with historiated initials, minimal marginal cropping, stains to ff.35-38, occasional marginal staining, occasional flaking to burnished gold and a few losses of pigment to border decoration). Red velvet over wooden boards, brass catch and clasp (edges a little worn).



Provenance:

(1) The preponderance of Franciscan saints and feasts in the Calendar (including the birth, stigmatisation, translation and octave of St Francis; the feasts of St Anthony of Padua, St Claire and St Bernardino of Siena, canonised in 1450), and the focus on St Francis in the Sanctoral (ff.453 and following) indicate that the manuscript was produced for a Franciscan house in or around Ferrara (on the basis of the illumination).

(2) Sister Polissena: 16th-century inscription, now partially erased, on f.2v ‘[Hic] liber est sororis Polissena […]’.



Content: Calendar ff.1-6v; Temporal, from Advent to Holy Saturday (lacking opening), ff.7-90; Canticles and Litany ff.90-93v; Temporal from Easter Sunday to the third Sunday in November (lacking ending) ff.93v-217v; Ferial Psalter (lacking opening), ff.218-292v; Sanctoral (lacking opening), from St Andrew to St Catherine of Alexandria (25 November) ff.293-479v; Common of Saints (lacking opening) ff.480-496; Hours of the Virgin ff.496-500v; Office of the Dead ff.500v-504v; rubrics ff.504v-507.



Illumination:

The style of illumination is typical of Ferrarese manuscript production of the second half of the 15th century, and recognisably similar to the repertoire of the illuminators of the Bible of Borso d’Este, Duke of Ferrara (Modena, Bibl. Estense Universitaria, Lat.422-3). The Bible was produced in Ferrara between 1455 and 1461, and the two principal artists responsible for its illustration and decoration were Taddeo Crivelli and Giorgio d’Alemagna, favoured illuminators of the Duke. Gaudenz Freuler notes that the style of the surviving historiated initial with the Virgin and Child in the present manuscript (f.32v) closely resembles Crivelli’s Virgin and Child in the Gualenghi-d’Este Hours at the Getty (Los Angeles, John Paul Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig IX, f.4), which he illuminated with Guglielmo Giraldi. Indeed, close analogies can be drawn between the borders in our manuscript, with their elaborate leafy sprays peppered with gold bezants and palette of lilacs, greens and blues, and the borders of the Getty manuscript, and also (to a lesser extent) with those found in the now dispersed Breviary of Lionello d’Este (the so-called ‘Llangattock Breviary). Analogies can further be made with the illumination of the Bible and choirbooks made for the Certosa of Ferrara in the 1460s and early 70s (Ferrara, Museo di Schifanoia – see F.Toniolo, ed., La miniatura a Ferrara dal tempo di Cosmè Tura all'eredità de Ercole de' Roberti, 1998, p.223).





Special notice


No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium.
Place of origin:Italy, Europe
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
13.07.2022 – 13.07.2022
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.
?>