L13241

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Lot 23
  • 23

The Annunciation to the Virgin, miniature from an illuminated Book of Hours, in Latin, on vellum [Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1440]

Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 GBP
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Description

  • Vellum
single leaf, 191mm. by 135mm., with a three-quarter page miniature of the Annunciation to the Virgin above 5 lines of text (opening Matins for the Hours of the Virgin), with a 4-line initial in blue on red ground with white penwork, enclosing a diapered pattern with small flowers and coloured baubles on burnished gold, text and miniature surrounded by three-quarter frame and a decorated border of coloured acanthus, flowers and gold ivy leaves, the verso with 15 lines of text in a gothic bookhand (written space: 95mm. by 66mm.), rubrics in red, one- and 2-line initials in gold on red and blue grounds with white penwork, miniature with small pigment losses, border slightly smudged, else in good condition, framed

Provenance

Acquired for the current owner in Christie’s, 2 June 1999, lot 23.

Catalogue Note

illumination

The artist of this miniature belongs to the Masters of the Gold Scrolls, a group of south Netherlandish illuminators active in the first half of the fifteenth century, who were named after their habit of filling coloured backgrounds with golden foliate ornament (cf. Miniatures flamandes 1404-1482, 2011, pp.140-7). This fashionable style can be found in many Books of Hours but varies greatly in style and quality. The Annunciation here is a fine example and the oval faces with flat noses, small mouths, high sitting eyebrows and yellow strands of hair are finely modelled with minute brush strokes, and are representative of the best achievements of the group. The customary coloured background with liquid gold decoration has been replaced here by a burnished gold ground with the foliate ornament incised into its surface.