Prague notation

Lot 61
08.11.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 4 800
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1053175
Lot 61 | Prague notation
Estimate value
£ 5 000 – 8 000
Prague notation
A fragment from a Choirbook, in Czech, manuscript on paper [Bohemia, late 15th century]
An exceptionally rare example of a 15th-century manuscript in the Czech vernacular.

c.300 x 220mm, 6 surviving lines written in brown ink in a formal Gothic bookhand, 7 lines in Prague notation (see previous lot) on a 5-line red staff with C-clef, initials in red (ink-erosion affecting the text, rubbed and faded). Sealed between perspex sheets and bound in limp vellum.

Provenance:
(1) Dr Friederich Georg Zeileis, of Linz, Austria.

(2) Jörn Günther, Hamburg, acquired in 1992 by:

(3) Schøyen Collection, MS 1572.

Text:
The hymns do not appear to be the database of Czech hymns, Hymnorum Thesaurus Bohemicus. The legible portion of the first line of the recto begins: '[...] by hodnay vcžinili vžitek' (in modern Czech transliteration this would be 'by hodný učinili užitek', 'so that they make good use'); the last line of the verso reads: 'kterauž gsy wykaupil swau' (or 'kterouž jsi vykoupil svou [...]', 'which you redeemed your [...]').
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
02.11.2023 09:00 – 17:00
03.11.2023 09:00 – 17:00
04.11.2023 12:00 – 17:00
05.11.2023 12:00 – 17:00
06.11.2023 09:00 – 17:00
07.11.2023 09:00 – 17:00
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

Related terms