Workshop of the Martainville Master - photo 1
Workshop of the Martainville Master - photo 2
Workshop of the Martainville Master - photo 3
Workshop of the Martainville Master - photo 4
Workshop of the Martainville Master - photo 5
Workshop of the Martainville Master - photo 6

Workshop of the Martainville Master

Lot 34
13.12.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 63 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1105585
Lot 34 | Workshop of the Martainville Master
Estimate value
£ 40 000 – 60 000
Workshop of the Martainville Master

The Labouchère Hours, use of Rome, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris, c.1500]

A richly illuminated Parisian Book of Hours from the turn of the 16th century with inhabited borders on every page, including the famous Dance of Death derived from the murals in the Cimitière des Innocents.



184 x 131mm. i + 139 + ii leaves, complete, collation: 1-28, 312, 4-98, 107 (of 8, viii a cancelled blank), 11-178, 19 lines, ruled space: 110 x 68mm, catchwords survive, rubrics in red, illuminated initials and line-fillers throughout, 71 pages with panel borders inhabited by monkeys, lions, birds and other creatures, those on ff.109v-131 with the Seven Deadly Sins and the Dance of Death, every other page with illuminated borders of scrolling acanthus and geometric designs, 16 large or full-page miniatures and 16 smaller miniatures, all within inhabited full borders and with accompanying panel miniatures or bas-de-page illustrations, 24 calendar miniatures with signs of the Zodiac and occupations of the month (some thumbing, cockling and occasional losses of pigment, else in very good condition). 19th-century black morocco by Trautz-Bauzonnet of Paris, red morocco doublures gilt, edges gilt and gauffered (joints a little weak, edges and spine a little scuffed).



Provenance:

(1) The Saints in the Calendar and Litany, the liturgical use of the Office of the Dead, and the style of illumination indicate that the manuscript was produced in Paris at the turn of the 16th century.



(2) Erased ownership inscriptions on ff.20 and 139v, apparently 'J. Nicolay'. A 19th-century description in French is pasted onto the upper flyleaf.



(3) Henry Labouchère (1798-1869), 1st Baron Taunton PC: his armorial bookplate on inside upper cover.



(4) Sotheby's, 10 December 1969, lot 64, bought by Hammond for £2,200.





Content: Calendar ff.2-7v; Gospel extracts ff.9-14; Obsecro te and O intemerata ff.14v-20; Hours of the Virgin, use of Rome ff.21-77v: matins f.21, lauds f.36, prime f.45, terce f.49, sext f.53, none f.57, vespers f.61, compline f.67v; Hours of the cross ff.78-80v; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.81-83v; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.84-98v; Office of the Dead, use of Paris ff.99-131v; Prayer to the Trinity and suffrages ff.132-139v.



Illumination:

This profusely illuminated Hours falls neatly into that category of extra-illustrated Books of Hours with historiated borders on every page and bas-de-page scenes from the turn of the 16th century associable with the output of the workshops of the Master of Martainville 183, an artist named from a Book of Hours in the Bibliothèque municipale in Rouen, and Jean Pichore, one of the most dominant figures in turn-of-the century Parisian illumination (on these, see I. Delaunay in Revue du Louvre, no 4, 1993, pp.11-15 and M. Hofmann, ‘Meister von Martainville 183’, in Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon, 2015). This was a period when the proliferation of densely embellished printed Hours in Paris led to a cross-fertilisation between manuscript and printed compositions, facilitated by the artists who both illuminated manuscripts and designed cuts for printed books. The iconography in the present manuscript is repeated in many of these Hours (see, for example, a Book of Hours illuminated by the Martainville Master, the Master of Robert Gaguin and others sold at Christie's 23 April 2021, lot 13, or another sold at Christie's on 6 July 2023, lot 13), but of particular interest in ours are the panel borders in the Office of the Dead illustrating the Seven Deadly Sins (captioned in French), and the Dance of Death, popular as an independent text and as border decoration derived from the murals in the Cimitière des Innocents and circulated in editions by Marchant (1486 and 1491) and Vérard (1491).



The style of illumination, down to the architectural frames and inhabited borders, is particularly close to that of the illuminator responsible for a Book of Hours at the British Library, Sloane 2605.



The subjects of the large or full-page miniatures are as follows: Christ in Majesty with scenes of the Creation of the World f.8v; St John on Patmos f.9; the Virgin f.14v; The Original Sin, with God punishing Adam and Eve standing beside the tree with the serpent f.20v; the Annunciation with bas-de-page of the Meeting at the Golden Gate f.21; the Visitation f.36; the Nativity f.45; Annunciation to the Shepherds f.49; the Adoration of the Magi f.53; the Presentation in the Temple f.57; the Massacre of the Innocents f.61; the Coronation of the Virgin f.67v; the Crucifixion f.78; Pentecost f.81; David and Bathsheba, with bas-de-page of David and Goliath and David in prayer in the border f.84, Job on the dungheap f.99.



The subjects of the small miniatures are as follows: St Luke f.10v; St Matthew f.12; St Mark f.13v; Virgin and Child f.18; the Trinity f.132; Sts Michael f.132v; John the Baptist f.133; Peter f.133v; James f.134; Sebastian f.134v; Nicholas f.136; Mary Magdalen f.136v; Katherine f.137; Barbara f.137v; Apollonia f.138v and Geneviève f.139.

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