Circle of the Master of the Apocalypse of Aymar de Poitiers - photo 1
Circle of the Master of the Apocalypse of Aymar de Poitiers - photo 2
Circle of the Master of the Apocalypse of Aymar de Poitiers - photo 3
Circle of the Master of the Apocalypse of Aymar de Poitiers - photo 4

Circle of the Master of the Apocalypse of Aymar de Poitiers

Lot 16
30.07.2020 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 81 250
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 381223
Lot 16 | Circle of the Master of the Apocalypse of Aymar de Poitiers
Estimate value
£ 8 000 – 12 000
BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in French and Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [southeastern France, final quarter 15th century]

A charming Book of Hours with early Toulouse provenance illuminated by a refined artist associated with the Master of the Apocalypse of Aymar de Poitiers.

182 x 123mm. iii + 148 + iv, complete, 21 lines, ruled space: 120 x 63mm, 5 large miniatures within full borders and 8 smaller miniatures (outer borders a little cropped, occasional ink erosion to text). Modern vellum (somewhat yellowed).

Provenance: (1) The prayer to St Martha on f.2v could be a clue as to the name of the original owner of the manuscript. (2) Rose-Françoise de Boissière, of Toulouse: her ownership inscription, dated 25 September 1681: ‘ces heures sount a moi rose f[r]ancoise de boissiere veuve a fu noble Piere de Fontrouge ansiens capitoul 24 septembre 1681’ on f.1 and again on f.65. Pierre Fontrouge, ‘bourgeois’ was capitoul, or chief magistrate of Toulouse, in 1655 (see Annales de la Ville de Toulouse, Paris, 1776, IV, p.649). (3) Paris, Jean Rousseau-Girard, 1954, lot 3111.

Content: Extract from Matthew 9:18-26 (in which Jesus heals two women) ff.1v-2; prayer to St Martha f.2v; Calendar ff.3-12; Gospel extracts ff.13-16; Hours of the Virgin, use of Rome, ff.17-55; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.56-68v; Office of the Dead, use of Rome, ff.69-90; Hours of the Cross f.91-92v; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.93-95; Obsecro te, in the masculine, ff.95-97v; O intemerata ff.97v-100; prayers for Confession and to be said during mass ff.100-115v; Stabat mater, Seven Joys of the Virgin and the Athanasian Creed ff.115v-123; various prayers to the Father, the Trinity and Jesus Christ ff.123-129v; Suffrages ff.130-135v; prayer in French f.135v; prayers to St Joseph ff.136-7; other prayers ff.137-8v; the Passion according to John ff.139-145v; prayer of Bede on the Seven Last Words of Christ ff.145v-148.

Illumination: The style of illumination in the present manuscript is characteristic of southeastern French illumination from the end of the 15th century. Gregory Clark has tentatively suggested an attribution to the Dauphiné painter known as the Master of the Apocalypse of Aymar de Poitiers (see F. Avril, N. Reynaud, and D. Cordellier, Les enluminures du Louvre: Moyen Âge et Renaissance, Paris, 2011, pp. 212-16, nos. 107-12), based on the female head shapes, the long rows of shrubs in the landscapes, and the taste for gilded, cusped Gothic arches that enclose or supermount scenes. The artist was named the Master of the Apocalypse of Aymar de Poitiers by François Avril for an illuminated Apocalypse in Glasgow with the arms of Aymar of Poitiers (University Library, Hunter 398). Also attributed to this artist are six full-page miniatures from a Book of Hours at the Louvre (Cabinet des dessins, inv. no. MI 1083.A-E; Avril 2011, no 112), and a related Book of Hours sold at Christie's, 24 June 1992, lot 54.

The subjects of the large miniatures are as follow: Annunciation bordered with scenes from the infancy of the Virgin f.17; David and Bathsheba f.56; Three Dead addressing a nobleman and woman f.69; Crucifixion f.91; Pentecost f.93.
The small miniatures are on ff.24, 31, 34v, 36v, 38v, 40, 43v and 95.
18 x 21 cm.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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09.07.2020 – 30.07.2020
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