Circle of Willem Vrelant (active 1454-1481) - photo 1
Circle of Willem Vrelant (active 1454-1481) - photo 2
Circle of Willem Vrelant (active 1454-1481) - photo 3
Circle of Willem Vrelant (active 1454-1481) - photo 4
Circle of Willem Vrelant (active 1454-1481) - photo 5
Circle of Willem Vrelant (active 1454-1481) - photo 6
Circle of Willem Vrelant (active 1454-1481) - photo 7
Circle of Willem Vrelant (active 1454-1481) - photo 8
Circle of Willem Vrelant (active 1454-1481) - photo 9

Circle of Willem Vrelant (active 1454-1481)

Lot 28
10.07.2024 10:30UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 40 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1249873
Lot 28 | Circle of Willem Vrelant (active 1454-1481)
Estimate value
£ 40 000 – 60 000
Circle of Willem Vrelant (active 1454-1481)
Book of Hours, use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Bruges, c.1455-60]
A prestigious Book of Hours by a skilled exponent of the Eyckian tradition in Bruges illumination, in the generation following the completion of the Turin-Milan Hours.

160 x 107mm. i (vellum) + 220 leaves, paper endleaves, collation impracticable, 15 lines, ruled space: 80 x 55mm, rubrics in red, line-endings in blue or burnished gold, one-line initials in blue with red penwork decoration or burnished gold with black penwork, 2-line initials in burnished gold on blue and red divided grounds, 14 large opening initials with scrolling foliate infills on burnished gold grounds with full-page borders inhabited with birds and drolleries, seven large arch-topped miniatures with similar full-page borders, five leaves added in a different hand with penwork decoration in red and blue (likely lacking inserted miniatures before ff.13, 20, 26, 56, 104, 124 & 145, a few borders closely cropped, marginal paper repairs to ff.55v and 60, some marginal staining and wear through use, occasional dampstaining with offsetting onto opposite leaf, most notably affecting miniatures on ff.37v and 88v, small loss of gold to miniature on f.73v). Bound in French 18th-century calf gilt, spine tooled in six compartments (some wear to extremities, small split at head of spine). Modern morocco box with Florin de Duikingberg gilt stamp.

Provenance:
(1) The style of illumination points to an origin in Bruges and saints included in the relatively sparse calendar would be suitable for use in that diocese, with St Donatian in red (14 October) along with Saints Amandus (6 February), Eligius (25 June) and Remigius and Bavo (1 October). Two rubrics are in Flemish, one added in a different hand with an antiphon on f.103v. The spiritual concerns of an early owner is seen in the 15th-century addition of the Verses of St Bernard and the imprints and sewing holes from at least 10 or 11 pilgrim’s badges on the final blank leaf.

(2) Found by Petrus Caerdock near the burial ground of St Michael’s Church in Ghent, 19 July 1653, signed inscription on f.i.

(3) Baron de Surmont, late 19th -century bookplate pasted inside upper cover.

(4) Florin de Duikingberg armorial bookplate pasted on marbled endpaper. From the library of Henri Florin de Duikingberg (Paris 1917 - Brussels 1994), bibliophile and member of one of the great textile manufacturing families of French origin founded in Belgium in the 19th century.

Content:
Ruled blank f.i; Calendar ff.1-12v; Hours of the Cross f.13-19v; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.20-25v; Mass of the Virgin and Gospel sequences ff.26-36; Hours of the Virgin, use of Rome ff.38-103: matins f.38, lauds f.56, prime f.68, terce f.74, sext f.79, none f.84, vespers f.89, compline f.98; added rubric in Flemish and antiphon in a different hand f.103v; Advent Office of the Virgin, f.104-123v with rubric in Flemish for vespers f.120v; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.124-144v; Office of the Dead, use of Rome ff.145-186v; ruled blank f.187; Gaude flore virginali and Stabat mater ff. 188-191v; Obsecro te and O Intemerata ff.192-198v; Seven Last Words of Our Lord followed by devotional sequences and suffrages to Saints Sebastian, Christopher, Nicholas, Adrian ff.198v-209; Seven Joys of the Virgin, attributed to Pope Clement, granting Indulgences for regular daily recitation ff.209-213v; Seven Verses of St Bernard added in a different hand ff.214-218v; ruled blanks ff.219-220.

Illumination:
The miniatures within this richly-illuminated Hours show a delight in narrative and observation, with expressive and delicately-painted figures set in complex compositions within rich interiors and landscapes with distant townscapes. They are by an accomplished artist working in Bruges when Eyckian models had become fully integrated into the repertoire of illuminators, inherited from the preceding generation of artists associated with the completion of the Turin-Milan Hours in the late 1440s. The compositions and stylistic features draw on the work from its contributors formerly identified as Hand K, who emulated Jan van Eyck’s delight in space, light and observation and include various hands identified in the Llangattock Hours (Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig IX 7), amongst them the Master of Jean Chevrot and the Master of the Llangattock Hours. In the present lot, the facial type of Christ, the conception of drapery, with the highlighting and bunching of folds just covering foreshortened feet (see particularly ff.67v & 78v) and the tiled floors, recall the Christ Blessing miniature on a leaf from the Turin-Milan Hours, see T. Kren and S. McKendrick, Illuminating the Renaissance, Cat no.1, pp.85-7. The interest in depictions of interior spaces is notable too, with the figures in Christ before Pilate (f.67v) and the Flagellation (f.73v) placed before striking gold cloths of honour, notable in the Trinity miniature attributed to the workshop of Jean Chevrot on f.25v of the Llangattock Hours.

The present manuscript is placed firmly within this tradition of illumination, given its close similarities with prayerbooks produced by Willem Vrelant and his circle, the leading Bruges miniaturist from the mid-1450s until 1481. Due to his prolific output, producing high-quality manuscripts containing large numbers of miniatures for a prestigious clientele, both within and surrounding the ducal court, Vrelant and his associates drew upon patterns, using and reusing models extensively. Compositions in the present Hours follow models used in their finest devotional books, see for example the Arenberg Hours (Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig IX 8) and the Passion miniatures in the Hours from c.1455-60, now Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Ms. Acquisti e Doni 147. The miniatures of Christ before Pilate and Christ carrying the Cross (Florence, f.16v & 20v) are particularly close, both in composition and artistry, containing groups of figures, with individualised, expressive faces, drawn from the same patterns: the delicately-drawn figure of Christ on f.16v is identical in its depiction. An Hours in Paris, BnF ms. Lat. 10548, also contains comparative models, such as the group to the left of the Cross in the Crucifixion miniature (f.40), with the very similar faces and poses of the Virgin and John the Evangelist and supporting saints, and the modelling of the Virgin’s drapery. The composition can be traced back to the Limbourg Brothers (see Bert Cardon, The Portfolio of a Bruges Miniaturist in the Mid-15th Century, in ‘Als Ich Can: Liber Amicorum in Memory of Professor Dr Maurits Smeyers, Leuven, 2002, pp.317-55). Behind them is a representation of the distant City of Jerusalem (which appears too in Florence, Ms.147) with the striking edifice of the temple supported by flying buttresses with pointed pinnacles, reproduced in the Crucifixion miniature of the present manuscript.

Although the iconographic program is no longer complete, this is a rich and refined manuscript and its original scheme must have reflected the status of a notable and wealthy patron. The fine quality of the dense borders, enlivened with delightful, elegant birds with long tail feathers, figures playing instruments and playful drolleries, are comparable in style and artistry with those in the Llangattock Hours and the Hours in Florence.

The subjects of the miniatures are: Agony in the Garden f.37v; Christ before Pilate f.67v; Flagellation f.73v; Christ carrying the Cross f.78v; Crucifixion f.83v; Descent from the Cross f.88v; the Laying in the Tomb f.97v.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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10.07.2024 – 10.07.2024
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