Important Medieval Manuscripts From the Collection of the Late Ernst Boehlen

THE VISION OF KING ASTYAGES, illuminated by The Master of the Geneva Boccaccio, cut from a copy of Vincent of Beauvais (d. 1264), Speculum historiale, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum

THE VISION OF KING ASTYAGES, illuminated by The Master of the Geneva Boccaccio, cut from a copy of Vincent of Beauvais (d. 1264), Speculum historiale, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [France (Loire Valley, Nantes or Angers), 15th century (c. 1460s)] a cutting, c. 120 × 100 mm, including the gently arched top, the back with part of the table of chapters for Book IV, in a good bâtarde script, small illuminated initials and line-fillers; some minor pigment losses, especially in the sky, cropped to the edges of the decoration; in a giltwood frame. PROVENANCE ? KING RENÉ OF ANJOU (1409–1480), Duke of Anjou, King of Naples, Jerusalem, etc.: the artist worked mainly for René, and the king’s his inventory includes five copies of the text and a Repertorium, whose description in an inventory probably corresponds to the five volumes of the text, plus the Tabula of the text, all illuminated in France but now now in the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, Lisbon (MSS il. 125–130), from one of which (MS. il. 126) the present miniature was cut.PETER BIRMANN (1758–1844), landscape painter and art dealer, and former owner of ‘Les Quarante Fouquet’ (the forty sublime miniatures from the Hours of Etienne Chevalier, now at Chantilly); stuck to fol. 31 of the album of 475 cuttings and leaves which he sold to:DANIEL BURCKHARDT-WILDT (1752–1819), connoisseur and painter, of Basel: sold by his heirs in our rooms, 25 April 1983, lot 129 (six miniatures), bought by:Mark Lansburgh (1925–2013) (on whom see Dutschke, 2024): placed on temporary deposit at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1986 (the reverse of the frame with a CMA deposit label); one of the six was acquired by the Museum in 1987 (Klein, 2007); sold, probably in October 1990, to:The Boehlen Collection, Bern, MS 1409. PARENT VOLUME AND ILLUMINATION The Vincent of Beauvais manuscript in Lisbon lacks its first quire and nine other leaves, of which three are now kept separately with their miniatures excised. Only four miniatures survive in the volume, and at least a dozen more are missing from it, including the present lot. The manuscript and its four surviving illuminations ‘de très grand qualité’ were studied in detail by Claude Schaefer in 1974. He attributed the illumination to the Master of Jouvenel des Ursins, one of the painters of King René of Anjou, to whom more than ten works can be attributed, dating from c. 1460 to c. 1475, and suggested that he could be the artist Coppin Delf, who is documented working for King René. One of the manuscripts listed by Schaefer is Geneva, Bibliothèque de Genève (formerly the Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire), MS fr. 191 (on which see Gagnebin, 1976). Eberhard Konig distinguished at least three artists among those grouped together by Schaefer, and gave the painter responsible for the Lisbon and Geneva manuscripts a new name: the Master of the Geneva Boccaccio. Compared to the Master of Jouvenel des Ursins, the Master of the Geneva Boccaccio has a more nervous, less static style, with a less bright palette. The issues of separating the remarkable group of illuminations and illuminators which had long been associated with the early career of Jean Fouquet, including some in books made for members of the Jouvenel des Ursins family, is summarised and reconsidered by François Avril (Avril & Reynaud, 1993, pp. 109–10 and nos. 54–61). Despite some damage, the quality of the painting in this miniature is high. It illustrates the beginning of Book IV, with The Vision of King Astyages: in the foreground his only daughter, asleep in bed, with a vine growing out of her; two armies in the background, one led by a king, and four men lying dead on the ground. REFERENCES C. Schaefer, ‘Le Maître de Jouvenel des Ursins (Coppin Delf?), illustrateur du “Speculum historiale” de Vincent de Beauvais (Ms. 126 de la Biblioteca Nacional à Lisbonne)’, Arquivos do Centro Cultural Português, 8 (1974), pp. 81–114, col. pls. I–IV, pls. 1–41. Bulletin de la Société française de la reproductions de manuscrits a peintures, 14 (1932), pls. XIlIb and XIV (‘d’une grande finesse de dessin et coloris … profond et riche’). Bernard Gagnebin, L’Enluminure de Charlemagne à François Ier: Les manuscrits à peintures de la Bibliothèque publique et universitaire de Genève (Geneva, 1976), no. 41. E. König, Französische Buchmalerei um 1450: der Jouvenal-Maler, der Maler des Genfer Boccaccio, und die Anfänge Jean Fouquets (Berlin, 1982), pp. 15, 38, 116, 167, 169, 253 F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France, 1440–1520 (Paris, 1993). Inventário dos códices iluminados até 1500, 1: Distrito de Lisboa, ed. by I. Vilares Cepeda and T.A.S. Duarte Ferreira (Lisbon, 1994), no. 428 at p. 167 (col. ill.). H.A. Klein, ed., Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, 2007), no. 81; also at www.clevelandart.org/art/1987.4 Consuelo Dutschke, ‘Mark Lansburgh: Collector and Seller of Medieval Manuscripts’, in Medieval Manuscripts and Their Provenance: Essays in Honour of Barbara A. Shailor, ed. by A.S.G. Edwards (Woodbridge, 2024), pp. 116–31.

View 1 of Lot 44: THE VISION OF KING ASTYAGES, illuminated by The Master of the Geneva Boccaccio, cut from a copy of Vincent of Beauvais (d. 1264), Speculum historiale, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum. [France (Loire Valley, Nantes or Angers), 15th century (c. 1460s)]

the vision of king astyages, illuminated by the master of the geneva boccaccio, cut from a copy of vincent of beauvais (d. 1264), speculum historiale, in latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum. [france (loire valley, nantes or angers), 15th century (c. 1460s)]

Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern

Property from the Brooklyn Museum, sold to support Museum Collections

Property from the Brooklyn Museum, sold to support Museum Collections Book of Hours, Use of Rome in Latin and Italian, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Southern Netherlands (Bruges), 15th century, after 1450 (c.1460s), and 19th century] iii + 236 + ii leaves, c.97×70 mm; ruled in red ink for 15 lines per page (ruled space c.51×32 mm); ILLUMINATED WITH THIRTEEN FULL-PAGE MINIATURES SURROUNDED BY FULL BORDERS on inserted leaves, blank on the recto, four of them modern, others missing, large foliate initials with fullborders facing each miniature and at the beginning of other major texts (which probably once faced inserted miniatures), small illuminated and flourished initials throughout. Bound in Paris c.1830s–‘40s in full fine-grained black calf, the understated exterior contrasting with the gilt filigree borders of the vellum pastedowns, signed on the turn-in BY TRAUTZ-BAUZONNET, the spine with gilt title ‘Hore Virginis’, edges gilt and gauffered; in a brown calf slip-case and conservation box TEXT The Seven Prayers of St Gregory: ‘O domine Ihesu Christi adoro te in cruce …’ (f.1r), followed (f.3r) by a two-page rubric about it, recording indulgences of 20,007 years and 36 days; blank (f.4); Calendar (f.5r); Hours of the Cross (f.18r) and of the Spirit (f.27r); Mass of the Virgin (f.35r), including the pericopes from the Gospels; Hours of the Virgin, ‘secundum consuetudinem Romane ecclesie’ (f.50r), with a miniature before each hour except Prime (f.87r), followed by the Advent Hours (f.128r); Seven Penitential Psalms and litany (f.146r); Office of the Dead (f.172r); prayers ‘Obsecro te’ (f.226r) and ‘O intemerata’ (f.230r), using masculine forms. Immediately after the ‘O intemerata’, there follows (f.233r) a near-contemporary added prayer with rubric ‘Oratio sancti Augustini’, later altered to ‘in afflictione’, IN ITALIAN, in a dialect perhaps of the southern Veneto: ‘Dulcissimo Yhesu Christe vere fijo de dee vivo chi de lo sen de dee paere omnipotente è staito mandao in lo mundo a relaxar le peccae …’, ending at f.236r: ‘… pero che tu e beneito in secula seculorum. Amen.’ PROVENANCE 1. Doubtless written and illuminated at Bruges, and certainly originally bound there: the original front pastedown is preserved, and bears the FORMAL INSCRIPTION OF THE ORIGINAL BINDER: ‘Johannes Lecat me ligavit in Brugis’ (fol. iii verso). In 1454 Bruges bookbinders were incorporated with booksellers, stationers, scribes, and illuminators into the Guild of St John the Evangelist, so their names are recorded, and the accounts of Jan de Cat / le Cat / Lecat, who was Dean of the Guild 1485–86, survive. W.E.J. Weale, who studied and published the guild documents in the 1860s, later wrote that none of his bindings are known to have survived (Bookbindings (London, 1898), p.liv). The book can certainly be dated after 1450 by the inclusion of St Bernardino in the calendar (21 June), and it was probably WRITTEN FOR AN ITALIAN PATRON to judge by the very unusual inclusion of St Mustiola of Chiusi (3 July) in the calendar, and the added prayer. 2. Raoul Léonor, comte de Lignerolles (1817–1893): sold in Paris at the Hôtel Drouot, 29 January 1894, and following days, lot 5; bought by M. Bélin for 680 francs (see ‘Les manuscrits du comte de Lignerolles’, in La Correspondance historique et archéologique, 1 (1894), at p. 34). 3. Late 19th- or early 20th-century English(?) bookseller’s price-code (back flyleaf). 4. Miss Mary Benson, of Brooklyn; bequeathed in 1919 to the Brooklyn Museum of Art, with their accession no. ‘19.71’ (f.ir) (cf. S.A. Hutchinson, ‘The Mary Benson Bequest of Illuminated Manuscripts and Autograph Letters’, The Brooklyn Museum Quarterly, 6 (October 1919), pp. 222–27; de Ricci, Census, II, 1937, p. 1194, no. 4). ILLUMINATION The subjects of the miniatures are: 1. (f.17v) Crucifixion 2. (f.26v) Pentecost 3. (f.36v) Christ addressing a woman, his words ‘Beati qui audiunt vocem dei’ (Luke 1:28) on a scroll held by an angel above 4. (f.49v) Annunciation 5. (f.72v) Visitation 6. (f.92v) Annunciation to the Shepherds 7. (f.98v) Two angels holding a bird-cage with open doors, above a scroll inscribed ‘Anima nostra sicut passer’ (Psalm 123:7, ‘Our soul, like a sparrow [has been snatched away …]’), with demons catching one bird in a net, and a female saint (the Virgin?) freeing another bird from a net 8. (f.104v) Presentation in the Temple 9. (f.110v) Massacre of the Innocents 10. (f.120v) Flight into Egypt 11. (f.127v) Coronation of the Virgin 12. (f.145v) Last Judgement 13. (f.171v) A bishop administering the Last Rites to an old man on his deathbed, watched by his grieving wife or daughter; his soul being carried to heaven by an angel FOUR OF THE MINIATURES ARE VERY HIGH QUALITY AND UNUSUAL EARLY 19TH-CENTURY REPLACEMENTS for lost leaves (nos. 2, 3, 7, and 13 in the list above); not only do the style and colours match the original miniatures and borders closely, but the iconography of nos. 3 and 7, in particular, are very inventive. They must have been executed before the Trautz-Bauzonnet binding; a Nativity miniature (f.86v) was recorded in the 1894 Lignerolles catalogue. The style of illumination of the original miniatures has features in common with Bruges artists of the third quarter of the 15th-century, including the crisp delineation and somewhat doll-like figures typical of Willem Vrelant, and the characteristic gold-scrolls-on-burgundy backgrounds of the Masters of the Gold Scrolls, but is distinct from their styles in the treatment of draperies, heads, and faces.

View 1 of Lot 16: Book of Hours, Use of Rome [Bruges, 1460s], illuminated manuscript on vellum, later blue morocco

book of hours, use of rome [bruges, 1460s], illuminated manuscript on vellum, later blue morocco

Western Illuminated Manuscripts 

Illuminated initials, cuttings, each c. 67 x 67 mm, tempera and burnished gold on vellum; (a) initial ‘A’ or ‘N’ depicting a king with crown and sceptre but no halo (perhaps King David, or St Louis?), the reverse with traces of music and ‘roma(m)’(?), (b) initial ‘U’ with a young saint holding a book and palm of martyrdom, the reverse with traces of music and text; some rubbing and flaking of pigments and gold.

Illuminated initials, cuttings, each c. 67 x 67 mm, tempera and burnished gold on vellum; (a) initial ‘A’ or ‘N’ depicting a king with crown and sceptre but no halo (perhaps King David, or St Louis?), the reverse with traces of music and ‘roma(m)’(?), (b) initial ‘U’ with a young saint holding a book and palm of martyrdom, the reverse with traces of music and text; some rubbing and flaking of pigments and gold. TWO ATTRACTIVE ITALIAN INITIALS IN THE STYLE OF FRATER ALFONSUS DE HISPANIA PROVENANCE 1. Part of the important collection of Adolf von Beckerath 1834-1915). He was the youngest son of a textile merchant from Krefeld and became a silk merchant himself. He cultivated a reputation as a patron of the arts and music, with a particularly interest in Renaissance art. Sold by; 2. Rudolph Lepke's, Berlin, Nachlass Adolf von Beckerath Berlin, zweiter Teil, Buch-Miniaturen, 29 November 1916, lot 43. 3. Sotheby’s, London, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts Sale, 5 July 2016, lot 29. 4. Acquired by present owner from the above sale. These two attractive initials are executed in a distinct style reminiscent of the works of Frater Alfonsus de Hispania, created in Northern Italy around 1490 to 1500. The shading, the pale skin tones of the figures, as well as the depiction of textiles, are particularly closely aligned with the known work of this artist. Intriguing are the cool toned paleness of both figures and the androgynous character of the young saint. In this respect, the figures seem somewhat inspired by the occasionally ambiguous representations of saints by Leonardo da Vinci. With their almost muted palette and unusual style, the two miniatures stand out among Italian book illumination of the late 15th century. We thank Peter Kidd for his expertise. LITERATURE Freuler, Gaudenz. Italian Miniatures. From the twelfth to the sixteenth Centuries, vol. 2, Milan: SilvavanaEditoriale, 2013. Paolo D'Ancona and Erhard Aeschlimann. Dictionnarie des miniaturistes du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance dans les différentes contrées de l'Europe, Milan 1049, p. 4.

View 1 of Lot 9: A King and a Saint, historiated initials ‘A’ or ‘N’ and ‘U’ from a Choirbook on vellum, illuminated by an unknown Master | Italy | c.1490-1500.

a king and a saint, historiated initials ‘a’ or ‘n’ and ‘u’ from a choirbook on vellum, illuminated by an unknown master | italy | c.1490-1500.

ST JOHN THE BAPTIST, illuminated by The Master of the Prayer Books of Around 1500: a full-page miniature with historiated border on a leaf from Hours of Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum

ST JOHN THE BAPTIST, illuminated by The Master of the Prayer Books of Around 1500: a full-page miniature with historiated border on a leaf from Hours of Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Southern Netherlands (Bruges), late 15th century] a leaf, c. 135 × 95 mm, with a full-page miniature of St John the Baptist holding the Paschal Lamb on a book in his left hand and pointing to it, standing full-length in a clearing or in front of a wood, the lower border historiated with a scene of three men hunting, one of whose dogs are chasing birds on a river, the other two with lures, and birds of prey attacking water-fowl in the upper left border, the right border with flowers and butterflies in a typical Flemish scatter border, the recto (framed as the reverse) blank except for a collector's ink-stamp, a bold ‘V’ surmounted by a coronet with nine points; with slight creases at the upper right and lower left corners, the latter causing minor pigment loss, but generally in very good condition, the reverse with traces of adhesive mounting-tape; in a giltwood frame. PROVENANCE ARCHDUCHESS ISABELLA CLARA EUGENIA (1566–1633), wife of Archduke Albrecht (d. 1621).Richard Kornelius Dammers (1762–1844), Bishop of Paderborn; bequeathed to his nephew:Franz Heinrich Reusch (1825–1900), priest, and theologian at the University of Bonn.Unidentified 19th-century German(?) Count, who also owned other miniatures from the same manuscript: with their ink-stamp on the reverse (de Kesel, 2001, fig. 4).Heinrich Eisemann (1890–1972), German-born British book dealer: bought from him by:Eric Korner (1893–1980), Austrian-born British banker: his MS 59; Korner sale in our rooms, 19 June 1990, lot 39; bought by:The Boehlen Collection, Bern, MS 1417. ILLUMINATION A Book of Hours in Berlin (Kupferstichkabinett, 78 B 15), from which four full-page miniatures including the present are missing, has been studied in detail by Lieve de Kesel (2001), and she has shown where this miniature was formerly placed. The miniatures are painted by the so-called Master of the Prayer Books of Around 1500. A list of manuscripts attributed to him (almost all of which are Books of Hours, not Prayer Books) is provided by Georges Dogaer (1987), and a more in-depth discussion is provided by Scot McKendrick (2003), including many texts that are not devotional, including a Roman de la Rose, Monstrelet’s Chroniques, Vasco da Lucena’s translation of Quintus Curtius, poetical works by Virgil, and the Poèmes of Charles d’Orléans. McKendrick observes that the artist was responsible for painting ‘by far the most fascinating and high-quality manuscripts’ in the collections of Engelbert of Nassau (d. 1504) and King Henry VII (d. 1509) of England; other patrons were Margaret of Austria (d. 1530) (Vienna, ÖNB, cod. 1862), and Isabella of Castille (d. 1504). ‘What is clear is that in the last decade of the fifteenth century the Prayer Books Master established himself as one of the very few miniaturists in the southern Netherlands who could produce illustrations for deluxe manuscripts of a secular text that equaled in imagination and artistic accomplishment works from the two previous decades.’ REFERENCES G. Dogaer, Flemish Miniature Painting in the 15th and 16th Centuries (Amsterdam, 1987), pp. 159–60 L. de Kesel, ‘Cambridge University Library Ms. Add. 4100: A Book of Hours Illuminated by the Master of the Prayer Books of circa 1500?’, Transaction of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, X (1992), pp. 182–202 at 194. L. de Kesel, ‘Almost Restored: The Hours of Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia, Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, 78 B 15’, Jahrbuch Der Berliner Museen, 43 (2001), pp. 109–31; the present miniature at pp. 115, 122 fig. 12, 125, 126, 129, 130. S. McKendrick, ‘Master of the Prayer Books of Around 1500’, in Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe ed. by T. Kren and S. McKendrick (Los Angeles, 2003), pp. 394–406, citing the parent manuscript of the present miniature at 394.

View 1 of Lot 54: ST JOHN THE BAPTIST, illuminated by The Master of the Prayer Books of Around 1500: a full-page miniature with historiated border on a leaf from Hours of Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Southern Netherlands (Bruges), late 15th century]

st john the baptist, illuminated by the master of the prayer books of around 1500: a full-page miniature with historiated border on a leaf from hours of archduchess isabella clara eugenia, in latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [southern netherlands (bruges), late 15th century]

Three circular miniatures from the margins of a Choirbook, 80 mm, 66 mm, and 57 mm in diameter, tempera and burnished gold on vellum, depicting half-length figures, with blank versos, Christ as Salvator Mundi, a grieving female saint, possibly the Virgin Mary or Mary Magdalene due to facing left, typical for Crucifixion scenes, Saint Symon (of Trent?), dressed in a monks habit, holding a book, each roundel framed against velvet, c.1365.

Three circular miniatures from the margins of a Choirbook, 80 mm, 66 mm, and 57 mm in diameter, tempera and burnished gold on vellum, depicting half-length figures, with blank versos, Christ as Salvator Mundi, a grieving female saint, possibly the Virgin Mary or Mary Magdalene due to facing left, typical for Crucifixion scenes, Saint Symon (of Trent?), dressed in a monks habit, holding a book, each roundel framed against velvet, c.1365. UNUSUAL FRAGMENTS: THREE FINELY ILLUMINATED ROUNDELS BY NICCOLO DI GIACOMO DA BOLOGNA PROVENANCE 1. From the collection of Dr. F.G. Zeileis (Più ridon le carte: Buchmalerei aus Mittelalter und Renaissance, 2004, no.36). 2. Sotheby's London, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts Sale, 5 July 2016, lot 22. 3. Acquired by present owner from the above sale. COMMENTARY These three beautiful roundels were created by Niccolò di Giacomo da Bologna one of the most famous and prolific illuminators of the region. His activity is documented between 1349 and 1403, during which he created a monopoly in secular and liturgical manuscript production in Bologna. The vast number of extant works signed by him are testament to his preeminent station as the head of a larger workshop and in 1380s he was appointed illuminator to the city. Due to his versatility, he was involved in the decoration of choirbooks for churches outside of Bologna as well as humanist texts for distinguished patrons affiliated with the university. Niccolò’s style is imbued by local miniature tradition and his visual language references the expressive and decorative works of the Master of 1346, who might have acted as his teacher. Niccolò’s adaptability and versatility as an artist as well as his fine use of colour for a greater narrative impact made his works sought-after in and outside of Bologna. The tonsured figure below the inscription ‘Beatus Symon’ is dressed in a dark Augustinian habit typical for monks of that order. This figure has previously been identified as the Augustinian Simon of Cascia, an ascetic, preacher and prolific writer who among many other works, authored one of the first catechisms in the Italian language. His main work De Gestis Domini Salvatoris [The Works of our Saviour] was widely read during the Middle Ages and it is assumed that the German reformer, Martin Luther, was influenced by his ideas. Simon preached in Bologna, Siena, Perugia and Florence where he founded the convent Sant'Elisabetta delle Convertite and helped unmarried women and prostitutes. This context supports an identification of the female figure as Mary Magdalene, who was associated in the Middle Ages with the figure of the repentant prostitute. Based on this identification, the manuscript from which these roundels originate could have been commissioned for the church of Santa Maria Maddalena in Bologna. According to Gaudenz Freuler (cited in Zeileis’ 2004 catalogue), the fragments could also relate to the Augustinian church San Giacomo Maggiore in Bologna, for which Niccolò produced several Choirbooks which survive only as fragments. The three roundels by Niccolò di Giacomo da Bologna provide an intriguing mystery and highlight the regional artistry and religious specifics of central Italy. Literature Medica, Massimo ed. Haec Sunt Statuta: Le corporazioni medievali nelle miniature bolognesi. Exhibition, Rocca medievale Boncompagni, 27 March-11 July. Catalogue, Modena. 1999, pp. 126-27. Conti, Alessandro. La miniatura bolognese: Scuole e botteghe 1270-r340. Bologna. 1981, pp. 94-95. Filippini, Francesco, and Guido Zucchini. Miniatori e pittori a Bologna: Documenti dei secoli XIII e XIV. Florence, 1947, pp. 175-81.

View 1 of Lot 8: Three illuminated roundels from the margins of a Choirbook on vellum illuminated by Niccolò di Giacomo da Bologna | Italy, Bologna | c.1365

three illuminated roundels from the margins of a choirbook on vellum illuminated by niccolò di giacomo da bologna | italy, bologna | c.1365

90 x 100mm, illuminated initial, cutting, tempera and burnished gold on vellum, initial ‘D’ — reverse with remains of 4 lines of text, the minims c. 15mm high, probably Psalm 25:2-3, ‘[ren]es meos / [et cor] meum / [quoniam misericord]ia tua / [ante oculos] meos est’, thus the initial ‘D’ is probably the normal psalter division at Ps.26: ‘Dominus illuminatio mea’ (‘The Lord is my Light’) — cut to the edges of the initial and trimmed at the left, some smudging of the background sky, and slight losses of the gold framing, the reverse with traces of paper backing with several pencil inscriptions, crossed-through

90 x 100mm, illuminated initial, cutting, tempera and burnished gold on vellum, initial ‘D’ — reverse with remains of 4 lines of text, the minims c. 15mm high, probably Psalm 25:2-3, ‘[ren]es meos / [et cor] meum / [quoniam misericord]ia tua / [ante oculos] meos est’, thus the initial ‘D’ is probably the normal psalter division at Ps.26: ‘Dominus illuminatio mea’ (‘The Lord is my Light’) — cut to the edges of the initial and trimmed at the left, some smudging of the background sky, and slight losses of the gold framing, the reverse with traces of paper backing with several pencil inscriptions, crossed-through This elegant initial depicting King David was created by the Lombard illuminator Venturino Mercati, also known as Venturino da Milano. Venturino is understood to be one of the last representatives of the Flemish-Burgundian Gothic tradition of illumination in Italy. His style is distinct. His figures are created with delicate heads and features and small, often hooded eyes while fabrics are almost rendered two-dimensional with striking colours. AN ELEGANT SIENNESE MINIATURE DEPICTING KING DAVID BY VENTURION MERCATI Venturino's style shows the influences of leading Masters of the time, working on high-profile commissions, including the Master of the Vitae Imperatorum, Belbello da Pavia, Jacopo da Balsemo, and the Master of Ippolita Sforza. Our artist worked on commissions for distinguished patrons, including a copy of the Antiphonary of the Saints for Duke Ercole I d’Este. Seventeen of the miniatures in this codex can be attributed to him (Modena, Biblioteca Estense Universitaria, Lat., 453= alpha PI6). This miniature originates from a Choir Psalter made for an Olivetan monastery based on the presence of numerous Olivetan monks and saints in the illuminations. Among others, Venturino illuminated service books for the Olivetan monastery of San Michele in Bosco, Bologna, before spending most of the 1470s illuminating books for the Monte Oliveto Maggiore, near Siena. The attribution was confirmed by Hans-Joachim Eberhardt, who dates the initial to before Venturino’s time in Tuscany. Another cutting of David, perhaps from the same Psalter, was sold in our rooms, 5 July 2011, lot 7, and a third cutting from the same group, but probably not from a Psalter, was 5 December 1995, lot 16. PROVENANCE 1. Bound in 1838, with 36 other historiated initials, into a copy of J. Maddan and H. Shaw, Illuminated Ornaments Selected from Manuscripts, with a bookseller’s description stating that they were ‘cut out of service books (particularly that of Como) during the French invasion of Italy’. 2. John Lomax (1801-49) of Clayton Hall, Lancashire, with his bookplate and signature dated 1842. 3. W.O. Wade, with his bookplate. 4. C.W. Dyson Perrins (1864-1958), Worcester Sauce maker, collector of books and ceramics, and philanthropist; his sale in our rooms, 29 November 1990, lot 151, bought by: 5. A.G. Thomas (1911-92), who removed the cuttings, keeping only this one and one other; his sale in our rooms, 21 June 1993, lot 29. 6. Sotheby’s, London, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts Sale, 5 July 2016, lot 23. 7. Acquired by present owner from the above sale. Although the confirmed provenance begins in 1838, we can confidently trace its history further. It is one of a group of Lombard cuttings incorrectly attributed, in pencil inscriptions on their backs, to the cathedral at Como. Many of these were in the sale of W. Y. Ottley, sold in our rooms, 11 May 1838, perhaps part of one of the lots described as ‘David etc.’; many of the Ottley cuttings had, in turn, reached England through the famous sale of the Abbe Celotti at Christie’s, 26 May 1825, in which the present cutting was perhaps part of lot 8, or more likely 10. SISTER LEAVES Venturino participated in the Choral Books of the Olivetan monastery of S. Vittore in Milan (London, Sotheby's, 29 Nov. 1960, lot 151; 5 Dec. 1995, lot 16: ibid.). The miniatures that accompany the choral books of the Civic Museum of Bologna (mss. 554-559) have then been attributed to Venturino. Works in which Venturino adopts styles similar to those of the choral books donated by Carlo Pallavicino to the cathedral of Lodi (New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, Mss., 682, 684, 686, 687). Also attributed to him are seventeen of the miniatures in the Antiphonal of the Saints created for Ercole I d’Este (Modena, Biblioteca Estense universitari, Lat., 453= alpha PI6) and Chiusi, Museo della Cattedrale, MSS B, C, D, E, F, H, I, K, L, M and N. LITERATURE Cerulli, Beatrice . "Venturino Mercati", in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 73, 2009.

View 1 of Lot 22: Illuminated Initial, C15th | King David gazing up to the Heavens, historiated initial ‘D from a Choir Psalter on vellum, illuminated by Venturino Mercati, Italy (Milan or Siena), c. 1470

illuminated initial, c15th | king david gazing up to the heavens, historiated initial ‘d from a choir psalter on vellum, illuminated by venturino mercati, italy (milan or siena), c. 1470

Important Manuscripts, Continental Books and Music

BOOK OF HOURS Book of Hours, Use of Rome, in Latin and Picard French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Hainaut, mid-15th century] Vellum, 191 leaves, c. 225x155mm, the pastedown and first three leaves ruled, otherwise originally blank, foliated in the lower corner from the first page of the calendar (another incomplete foliation in the upper corner is not used here), collation: mostly in quires of 8 leaves, quire signatures survive sporadically [a]–z starting after the calendar, with the heraldic leaf inserted and lacking single leaves, doubtless each with a miniature, after ff. 24, 67, 76, 80, 92, 113, 125, written with 16 lines (c.105x65mm), illuminated with 1- and 2-line champie initials and line-fillers, 3-line initials with foliate infill ONE-SIDED BORDERS THROUGHOUT, and 13 LARGE MINIATURES EACH WITHIN A FULL BORDER incorporating flowers, fruit, and birds (parrots, peacocks, pheasants, etc.) ACCOMPANIED BY A THREE-LINE FOLIATE INITIAL, bound in its (ORIGINAL?) LATE MEDIEVAL BINDING (not re-sewn in order to insert the heraldic frontispiece leaf, which in instead glued in): sewn on four tawed bands laced into wood boards covered with polished brown calf, finely blind-tooled with three small tools, two square, the third round: a fleur-de-ly in a lozenge, a quadruped, and a small fleur-de-lys, the outer edges very skilfully repaired, but overall in very fine condition, with (ORIGINAL?) EDGE-PAINTING of red and green scrolling plant designs on a gold ground Calendar, in French (f.1r); Pater noster, Ave Maria, Credo, and other prayers (f.13r); Hours of the Cross (f.16r), of the Spirit (f.26r), and of the Virgin (f.34r), with seasonal variants (f.97r), and rubrics in French; The Seven Penitential Psalms (f.106r) and Litany (f.118v); The Verses of St Bernard (f.125r); Office of the Dead, a variant of the Use of Rome (126v), followed by prayers and suffrages to saints. In addition to the full-page heraldic display (f.iv verso), the subjects of the miniatures are: (1) Agony in the Garden (f.13r), (2) Betrayal and Arrest of Christ (f.20r), (3) Christ Before Pilate (f.21v), (4) Flagellation (f.23r), (5) Carrying of the Cross (f.24v), (6) Crucifixion (f.26r), (7) Deposition (f.27r), (8) Pentecost (f.30r), (9) Annunciation (f.38r), (10) Visitation (f.50r), (11) Annunciation to the Shepherds (f.72v), (12) Flight into Egypt (f.85v), (13) King David in Armour Kneeling at an Altar (f.109r). The miniatures are by two artists; one was responsible for the first miniature in the volume, and the first of the Hours of the Virgin (ff.13r, 38r): he used almost pastel colours of mauve and lilac along with deeper red and blue; the second artist was less refined but his compositions are spirited and engaging: his palette comprises generally richer, brighter, colours including a distinctive yellow with orange for shadows, a deep purple-blue, and he seems to have enjoyed depicting the reflective properties of metal armour. We are grateful to Dominique Vanwijnsberghe, who informs us that the second artist was probably also responsible for another Hainaut Book of Hours, now Brussels, KBR, MS 15080, perhaps written by the Mons scribe Jacquemart Pilavaine. Overall, the condition of the book is remarkably clean, fresh and well preserved, with vibrant colours and gold in the decoration and crisp impressions of tools on the binding. PROVENANCE: (1) Written for a woman (‘famule tue’, f.173r), doubtless in Hainaut (perhaps Mons?) for use in or near Binche (between Mons and Charleroi): the calendar and rubrics include Picard spellings (‘Vinchien’, ‘Franchois’, ‘tierche’, etc.), and the only local saints in red are Ghislain of Cambrai (9 October) and Nicaise of Reims (14 December); the second to eighth saints in the litany are the very rare group: Ursmarus, Erminus, Theodulphus, Ulgistus, Amoluinus, Abel, and Hydulphus, all of whose relics were at Binche. (2) The arms of a late 15th- or early 16th-century owner and his wife occupy a full page (f.4v), held by a lion rampant, its head in a helm with mantling, surmounted by a crest in the form of a bearded man wearing a cloak and conical hat with a feather: his arms are argent a bar azure in chief a leopard sable; hers are impaled on a lozenge, with her arms on the sinister side: argent three torteaux gules with a label of three points azure. (3) Owned in Paris in the second quarter of the 20th century: with two-page description with the ink stamp of ‘Librairie Ancienne Denis’, Paris, and a twelve-page description signed by Alexandre Benois (1870–1960), former Curator of Old Masters at the Hermitage Museum, Leningrad, who lived in Paris from 1927. (4) Private collection, Germany.

book of hours, use of rome, in latin and picard french, illuminated manuscript on vellum, mid-15th century

465 x 545mm, illuminated page from a vast gradual, Latin manuscript on vellum, initial 165 x 150mm, likely constituting the lower half of an impressively large sheet, originally about 900 x 600mm, which explains the unusual format, written in Roman Square Capitals inscription on red-ruled four-line background, one line of music, on the recto: 3 small initials A, C, and O with floral details in red and green, on the verso: one large initial D in gold and blue on gold background containing a portrait of a young Christ dressed in burgundy and blue; a wide and elaborate border of flowers and vegetal elements on a burnished gold background, ornamentation in red as well as numerous floral representations in blue, yellow, orange and white with leaves in green; the right-hand side exhibits a few vertical folds, with light rubbing of the coloured surface, overall an impressively large and extraordinarily decorative leaf.

465 x 545mm, illuminated page from a vast gradual, Latin manuscript on vellum, initial 165 x 150mm, likely constituting the lower half of an impressively large sheet, originally about 900 x 600mm, which explains the unusual format, written in Roman Square Capitals inscription on red-ruled four-line background, one line of music, on the recto: 3 small initials A, C, and O with floral details in red and green, on the verso: one large initial D in gold and blue on gold background containing a portrait of a young Christ dressed in burgundy and blue; a wide and elaborate border of flowers and vegetal elements on a burnished gold background, ornamentation in red as well as numerous floral representations in blue, yellow, orange and white with leaves in green; the right-hand side exhibits a few vertical folds, with light rubbing of the coloured surface, overall an impressively large and extraordinarily decorative leaf. A HIGHLY ATTRACTIVE ILLUMIANTED LEAF WITH A FINE PORTRAIT INITIAL PROVENANCE 1. UK, private collection. COMMENTARY This enchanting half-leaf from an impressively large gradual contains the beginning of the chants for the Mass on the evening of the 25th December. The leaf is visually striking, with its fine lettering, large gold initial with an elegant portrait, all contained within a luxurious border of gold and red. The chant on the verso (p.114) offers the introit, the 1st item in the Proper of the Mass, ‘Dominus dixit ad me’ for Midnight Mass of Christmas Day: ‘In nativitate domini ad missam in nocte. Introitus.’ The recto (p.113) contains the end of the gradual ‘Hodie scietis’ and Alleluia V. ‘Crastina die’ for Christmas Eve: ‘Joseph: qui sedes super Cherubim, appare coram Ephraim, Beniamin, & Manasse…’. DECORATION This leaf contains a magnificent portrait initial on a gold background surrounded by a narrow gold leaf frame. It shows a young Christ dressed in a burgundy tunic and a blue overcoat, with curly hair and fine facial features, executed in soft shades. The delicate facial features with the long, thin nose, small mouth, the finely arched eyebrows, and above all, the lush brown curls, highlighted with white, seem inspired by Florentine painting, particularly the school of Domenico Ghirlandaio. The nuanced shading of the almost sculpturally conceived face uses the sfumato technique, where colour transitions are softly blurred without lines or borders, following the traditions of Florentine schools. The leaf is surrounded by a stunning decorative border that encompasses lush floral tendrils in red, as well as numerous varied flowers in blue, yellow, orange and white with separate leaves in green. Its finely executed Italianate initial and portrait, as well as the large and exuberant border, make this a highly pleasing example of late 16th early 17th century illumination.

View 1 of Lot 7: Illuminated leaf from a Gradual with decorative floral border and historiated initial | Northern Italy? | 17th century

illuminated leaf from a gradual with decorative floral border and historiated initial | northern italy? | 17th century

The Edith & Stuart Cary Welch Collection: Online

ink, gouache and gold on paper, text written in nasta'liq script, one folio in safina form

ink, gouache and gold on paper, text written in nasta'liq script, one folio in safina form A: 18.5 by 9.8cm. B: 20.8 by 6.9cm. C: 14.7 by 9.6cm.

View 1 of Lot 252: Three folios from illuminated manuscripts, Persia, 15th-16th century

three folios from illuminated manuscripts, persia, 15th-16th century

THE DORMITION and THE ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN MARY: two miniatures on a leaf from a Book of Hours, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum. [Italy (Veneto, Verona?), 14th century (2nd quarter)]

THE DORMITION and THE ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN MARY: two miniatures on a leaf from a Book of Hours, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum. [Italy (Veneto, Verona?), 14th century (2nd quarter)] a leaf, c. 135 × 95mm, the recto with 10 lines of text comprising the end of Vespers and rubric for Compline, the remaining space on the pages filled with a miniature of the Dormition of the Virgin, the verso with a large miniature of the Assumption above an illuminated initial and the first three lines of text of Compline, and a horizontal panel containing portraits of two apostles(?) each in a cusped quatrefoil, and brightly coloured foliate ornament; significantly worn, with losses of pigment and gold (as is the case of the other leaves and cuttings from the same manuscript) especially the recto which appears to have formerly been glued-down; despite the damage the colours are still bright and the painting impressive; inset with conservators’ tissue supports into a double-sided frame and glazed. AN UNUSUAL LEAF FROM A LAVISH BOOK OF HOURS This leaf is from an early and exceptionally lavishly illuminated Book of Hours. It predates the period when Books of Hours became fairly standardised, and therefore exhibits several features that are very unusual. This is true not only of the style, but also of the overall conception of the series of miniatures, of the design of the individual pages, and of the choice of scenes or their iconography. To give one example of the latter, there is a scene in which a group of richly clad monks and a bishop process behind a group of women, one holding a banner. Because this miniature, like most others, has had its text removed, there are few clues to the meaning of this unexplained image. While there is agreement that the manuscript was produced in the Veneto, stylistic attributions have varied from Venice to Verona to Padua, and proposed dates vary from the last quarter of the 14th century, to c.1350, to the second quarter. Francesca Manzari seems to have been the first person to realise that two different artists contributed to the volume, using the same page design but a different palette and with different figure styles and facial types (Manzari, 2013, n. 130), and we have followed her most recent attribution. The known leaves of the manuscript are described, and many of them reproduced, by Laura Alidori Battaglia (2020), and Helena Szépe (2023). In summary, in addition to the present lot, they are:East Lansing, Michigan, Broad Museum (Pentecost)La Spezia, Museo Civico Amedeo Lia (Entombment)London, British Library (5 cuttings of border ornament)Montreal, Museum of Fine Arts (2 leaves: Deposition and Harrowing of Hell; and Woman reading at a desk)Switzerland, private collection (Visitation)Vienna, Museum of Applied Arts (16 leaves with miniatures)Whereabouts unknown; formerly New York & Fiesole, Martello Collection (Ascension) PROVENANCE From a manuscript that was certainly broken-up by 1866, as many of the known leaves were owned by Johann Anton Ramboux, who died in that year.Sold by Christie’s, 28 November 2001, part of lot 2 (col. ill.).Maggs Bros Ltd., Catalogue 1340; Illuminations [2003], no. 1 (front cover and frontispiece ills.).The Boehlen Collection, Bern, not numbered. LITERATURE F. Manzari, ‘Italian Books of Hours and Prayer Books in the Fourteenth Century’, in Books of Hours Reconsidered, ed. by S. Hindman and J. H. Marrow (London, 2013), pp. 153–209, citing the present leaf at pp. 168 and 201 n. 130. Catalogue raisonné des livres d’heures conservés au Québec, ed. by B. Dunn-Lardeau (Québec, 2018), no. 1, citing the present leaf at p. 16 (‘localisation actuelle inconnue’). L. Alidori Battaglia, Il libro d’ore in Italia tra confraternite e corti, 1275-1349: lettori, artisti, immagini (Florence, 2020), at pp. 101–18, 302–06, and 332–35, tavv. XLI–XLV, describing the present leaf at p. 303, reproducing it as fig. 45 and in colour as tavv. XLIII–XLIV (‘Ubicazione sconosciuta’), and attributing it to ‘Verona (?)’. H.K. Szépe, ‘Fragmented and Forgotten. Italian Manuscripts in Arts, Design, and Natural History Museums: The Collectors L. Celotti and J.A. Ramboux, and Newly Discovered Miniatures by The Master of the Antiphonal Q of San Giorgio, the Master of Cardinal Antoniotto Pallavicini, and the Disassembled Italian Hours Masters’, Rivista di storia della miniatura, 26 (2022), pp. 154–76, at 154–65 citing the present leaf at p. 158.

View 1 of Lot 19: Illuminated Miniatures, C14th | The Dormition and The Assumption of the Virign: two miniatures from a Book of Hours, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum. [Italy (Veneto, Verona?), 14th century (2nd quarter)]

illuminated miniatures, c14th | the dormition and the assumption of the virign: two miniatures from a book of hours, in latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum. [italy (veneto, verona?), 14th century (2nd quarter)]

Arts of the Islamic World & India

ink and gouache heightened with gold on paper, 20 lines to the page written in small naskh in black ink in 6 columns, within red intercolumnar rules, a heading in gold, verso with 31 lines of black naskh, a heading in gold

ink and gouache heightened with gold on paper, 20 lines to the page written in small naskh in black ink in 6 columns, within red intercolumnar rules, a heading in gold, verso with 31 lines of black naskh, a heading in gold painting: 8.5 by 16.9cm. text panel: 24.2 by 17.1cm. leaf: 29.9 by 21cm.

View 1 of Lot 518: An illustrated and illuminated leaf from a manuscript of Firdausi's Shahnameh (The Freer Shahnameh): The combat between Hujir and Sepahram, Persia or Baghdad, Ilkhanid, circa 1300-40

an illustrated and illuminated leaf from a manuscript of firdausi's shahnameh (the freer shahnameh): the combat between hujir and sepahram, persia or baghdad, ilkhanid, circa 1300-40

Master Paintings Part II

South German School, circa 1600 Still life of an illuminated manuscript oil on panel panel: 17 3/4 by 20 5/8 in.; 45 by 52.3 cm. framed: 20 3/4 by 24 1/2 in.; 52.7 by 62.2 cm.

still life of an illuminated manuscript

THE ANNUNCIATION by CRISTOFORO CORTESE, a large historiated initial cut from an Antiphonary, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum

THE ANNUNCIATION by CRISTOFORO CORTESE, a large historiated initial cut from an Antiphonary, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Italy (Veneto, probably Venice), early 15th century (first decade)] a cutting, c. 160 × 150mm, trimmed to the edges of the decoration, the reverse with fragments of two lines of text and music in square notation on four-line red staves, comprising part of the antiphon ‘Et unde hoc mihi’ (‘sunt tibi a do[mino]’) for the feast of the Annunciation, the initial ‘M’ therefore probably from the antiphon ‘Missus est Gabriel angelus’ for the same feast day; the image divided into two parts by the vertical of the letter ‘M’, with a bed in a domestic interior in the background to the right and books on a lectern to the left, the Virgin Mary sitting in the foreground, apparently turning away in surprise or fear from the half-length figure of Gabriel who appears in the sky to the upper left, holding a lily in his left hand and blessing with his right; set into a tissue support inscribed in pencil ‘Kraus 21/12/95’ and with the black ink stamp of ‘Giuseppe Baldisse’ with a lion (not visible as currently framed); with some overall wear, flaking of gold, and smudging of Gabriel’s garments and cloud, the colours still bright and the gold still reflective; in a double-sided giltwood frame. PROVENANCE From an Antiphonary commissioned in 1401 for the Dominican nunnery of Corpus Domini, Venice, founded in 1395; it is recorded that a Psalter and Antiphonaries were being produced between 1400 and 1402.Madame Fould: her anonymous sale in Paris, 6 December 1926, lot 50: ‘Ravissante enluminure siennoise des premières années du xv° siècle’, bought by M. Horst.Sold at Christie’s, 21 June 1988, lot 1 (‘? Florence or Siena, late fourteenth century’); bought by:Helen and Nereo (d. 1999) Fioratti: The Martello Collection (see Boskovits, 1992); presumably deaccessioned to:H.P. Kraus, New York: inscribed in pencil ‘Kraus 21/12/95’, perhaps the acquisition note of:Giuseppe Baldisse: his ink stamp on the tissue support.Sold in our rooms, 5 July 2016, lot 25, bought by:The Boehlen Collection, Bern, MS 1433 ILLUMINATION An important and impressive illumination. ‘Cristoforo Cortese was the most important and prolific Venetian illuminator of the first half of the fifteenth century. … For almost forty years he maintained a monopoly over the illustration of Venetian manuscripts, not only liturgical texts but also humanistic and devotional works’ (Toniolo, 2021, p. 367). The attribution to Cristophoro Cortese (d. 1445) was first made verbally by Miklós Boskovits to Daniela Parenti, who wrote the description for the 1992 Martello Collection catalogue, backed-up by a detailed stylistic analysis. He worked not only as an illuminator but also as a panel painter (Marcon, 2004; Toniolo, 2021), over a career that spanned almost half a century: he was first mentioned as a ‘miniator’ in the Mariegola of the Scuola di S. Caterina dei Sacchi, Venice (Venice, Correr, MS. IV, 118), written before the end of the 14th century, and he is known to have died in 1445. He signed a few works, including a cutting now in Paris (Musée Marmottan, Wildenstein Collection, M6076), and on the basis of stylistic comparison, numerous other illuminations have been attributed to him and his circle. From an art-historical perspective Cortese is particularly interesting partly because his style changed significantly over the course of his long career. The present cutting belongs to a group of initials that are ‘the earliest known works of Cristoforo Cortese, the most famous and prolific Venetian illuminator of the first half of the fifteenth century’ (Palladino, 2003, p. 71), as was first realised by Gaudenz Freuler, who identified the commission from which the cutting derives (Freuler, 2001). Palladino (2003) expanded on this discovery, and the group has recently been studied again in greater detail by Federica Toniolo (2021): they come from an Antiphonary made for the Dominican convent of Corpus Domini, Venice, and there are documentary sources that refer to the production for the convent of a Psalter and Antiphonals from at least 1400 until at least 1402. REFERENCES Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, Catalogue des enluminures de hautes époques, tirées des manuscrits et antiphonaires … appartenant à Madame X…, 6 December 1926, lot 50 (ill.). M. Boskovits, ed., The Martello Collection: Further Paintings, Drawings, and Miniatures, 13th–18th Century (Florence, 1992), pp. 48–51. G. Freuler, in Catalogue 10: Enluminures / Illuminations – Moyen Age, Renaissance, Middle Ages (Les Enluminures: Chicago and Paris, 2001), no. 29. P. Palladino, Treasures of a Lost Art: Italian Manuscript Painting of the Middle Ages and Renaissance (New York, 2003), cited at p. 72. S. Marcon, in Dizionario biografico dei miniatori italiani: secoli IX–XVI, ed. by M. Bollati (Milan, 2004), pp. 176–79. F. Toniolo, in The Burke Collection of Italian Manuscript Paintings, ed. by S. Hindman and F. Toniolo (London, 2021), pp. 367–79, no. 37, citing the present cutting at pp. 370, 377.

View 1 of Lot 60: THE ANNUNCIATION by CRISTOFORO CORTESE, a large historiated initial cut from an Antiphonary, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum. [Italy (Veneto, probably Venice), early 15th century (first decade)]

the annunciation by cristoforo cortese, a large historiated initial cut from an antiphonary, in latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum. [italy (veneto, probably venice), early 15th century (first decade)]

Antiquarian Books and Manuscripts

Property from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery

Property from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery Leaf from a Book of Hours Illuminated manuscript in Latin on vellum. [Southern Netherlands, 14th century (last quarter)] Single leaf, c.195×150mm; 22 lines (c.135×83mm); the text comprising suffrages for St Giles, Confessors, Anne, and Katherine; illuminated with six 2-line initials, two borders and line-fillers. Slight staining at upper edge. PROVENANCE: From the same manuscript as lot 16 Otto Ege/Philip Duschnes Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Gallery Purchase, 1940 (1940:355.14)

View 1 of Lot 17: Leaf from a Book of Hours, illuminated manuscript in Latin on vellum, [Southern Netherlands, 14th century (last quarter)]

leaf from a book of hours, illuminated manuscript in latin on vellum, [southern netherlands, 14th century (last quarter)]

Master Paintings Evening Sale

NETHERLANDISH SCHOOL, CIRCA 1615-1625 STILL LIFE OF AN ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT oil on panel 27¾ by 25¾ in.; 70.5 by 65.5 cm. 繁體中文

THE EXECUTION OF DEMETRIUS NICATOR, KING OF SYRIA, a miniature cut from a copy of Laurent de Premierfait, Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes malheureux, in French (a translation of Boccaccio’s De casibus virorum illustrium), illuminated manuscript on vellum

THE EXECUTION OF DEMETRIUS NICATOR, KING OF SYRIA, a miniature cut from a copy of Laurent de Premierfait, Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes malheureux, in French (a translation of Boccaccio’s De casibus virorum illustrium), illuminated manuscript on vellum [France (Troyes?), 15th century (c. 1470)] a cutting, c. 105 × 75mm, the reverse ruled in red ink and with part of 18 lines of text written in French in a fine lettre bâtarde script, comprising part of the preceding chapter (‘concubine dudit roy Actalus … gloire en beaux fais de bata[ille]’), the miniature depicting a king wearing a blindfold and crown, kneeling next to the water’s edge, a small ship nearby, an executioner about to behead the king, wearing white clothes and hat and with his back turned towards the viewer, the scabbard partly in the water, watched by a line of men, including a prince wearing a coronet and a monk in a habit, with a castle or city beyond a grassy mound, all within by a narrow gold framing line; very slight pigment losses, e.g. at the executioner’s collar, but generally in very fine condition; in giltwood frame. PROVENANCE The parent volume apparently had a half-page miniature at the beginning of each of the nine books and a column-wide miniature at the beginning of each chapter, so it would have had about 175 miniatures in all, and can therefore only have been commissioned by a patron of exceptional wealth, either a member of the upper aristocracy or of the royal family; two of the most lavishly illuminated copies were made for Jean, Duke of Berry, and his brother John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy.The volume was certainly cut up by 1862, because a miniature was in the collection of Heinrich Wilhelm Campe, Leipzig art collector, educator, and writer, who died in that year; another was owned by William Horatio Crawford, of Lakelands, who died in 1888, and four were acquired by the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, also in 1888.Sold in our rooms, 29 November 1990, lot 37 (ill.); bought by:The Boehlen Collection, Bern, MS 1402. ILLUMINATION The style of illumination of the many cuttings from this volume has usually been compared to that of the Coëtivy Master (Colin d’Amiens?), one of the leading illuminators active in Paris c. 1450–80, but more recently Mara Hofmann has suggested (in the catalogue of a sale in our rooms, 8 July 2014, lot 19) that it should instead be attributed to Troyes, where a pupil of the Coëtivy Master, the Master of the Glazier Hours, worked at least temporarily, when he illuminated a lectionary for the use of the Bishop of Troyes. This is a rare secular subject. It comes from Book V, chapter 17, in which Demetrius (d. 125 BCE), the unpopular king of Syria, escaped by ship after losing a battle at Damascus but was later caught and executed near Tyre. Identified cuttings and leaves from the same parent manuscript include: Book I.1. Samuel Anointing Saul and Boccaccio Writing His Text (sold in our rooms, 11 April 1961, lot 96)Book I.6. Cadmus with the Cow on the Future Site of Thebes (Les Enluminures, Catalogue 3, 1994, no. 25a)Book IV.15. The Murder of the Children of Arsinöe II Philadelphus (Les Enluminures, Catalogue 1, 1992, no. 26)Book V.1. Seleucus Callinicus and Antiochus Hierax Before Boccaccio (Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.1057)Book V.2. The Death of Laodamia in the Temple of Diana (sold in our rooms, 29 November 1990, lot 35)Book V.14: Andriscus, the Imposter King of Macedon, Placed in the Stocks (sold in our rooms, 21 June 1993, lot 36)Book V.17: The present cuttingBook VI.8. The Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem (Les Enluminures, Catalogue 3, 1994, no. 25b)Book VI.11. The Death of Ptolemy (sold in our rooms, 8 July 2014, lot 19)Book VIII.20. The Execution of the Privernate General Vitruvius (Maggs Bros, Catalogue 948: Ancient, Medieval and Modern, No. 8, 1972, no. 18)Book IX.2. Emperor Heraclius Expounding his Heresies (W. Voelkle & R. Wieck, The Bernard Breslauer Collection, 1992, no. 5)Book IX.9. The Sultan Receiving the Emperor Diogenes (Voelkle & Wieck, as above, no. 6.)Book IX.22. Boccaccio Addressing the Philosophers Theodorum, Anaxarchus, and Scaevola (Voelkle & Wieck, as above, no. 7)The subjects of six more miniatures are unknown, the first four at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (they have paper pasted to their backs, obscuring the text and hampering identification of the scenes): A king and his retinue entering the study of a scholarA scholar addressing three noble ladiesA scholar between two groups of menThe Death of Caesar(?): a scholar watching as a richly-dressed man is stabbed in the back by one member of a group of menOne soldier killing another, outside the entrance to a church. (Christie’s, Important Old Master Drawings, 8 December 1981, part of lot 98)A large miniature in a Paris private collection (cited by Voelkle & Wieck, as above, p. 74) A few of these are mentioned in Vittore Branca, Boccaccio visualizzato: narrare per parole e per immagini fra Medioevo e Rinascimento (3 vols, Turin, 1999), III, no. 57 pp. 158–60. A more recent study of illustrated copies of the text (not including the present series of miniatures) is Anne D. Hedeman, Translating the Past: Laurent de Premierfait and Boccaccio’s ‘De Casibus’ (Los Angeles, 2008).

View 1 of Lot 40: THE EXECUTION OF DEMETRIUS NICATOR, KING OF SYRIA, a miniature cut from a copy of Laurent de Premierfait, Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes malheureux, in French (a translation of Boccaccio’s De casibus virorum illustrium), illuminated manuscript on vellum. [France (Troyes?), 15th century (c. 1470)]

the execution of demetrius nicator, king of syria, a miniature cut from a copy of laurent de premierfait, des cas des nobles hommes et femmes malheureux, in french (a translation of boccaccio’s de casibus virorum illustrium), illuminated manuscript on vellum. [france (troyes?), 15th century (c. 1470)]

CHINA / 5000 YEARS Including Property from the Junkunc Collection

Image height 12⅞ in., 32.7 cm; Width 8¼ in., 21 cm; Folio height 18⅛ in., 46 cm; Width 14⅛ in., 35.8 cm

View 1 of Lot 163: An illuminated manuscript page from a Persian Bhagavata Purana, India, Deccan, 19th century

an illuminated manuscript page from a persian bhagavata purana, india, deccan, 19th century

Single leaf, 455 cm x 285 mm, 20 lines, ruled, Latin, written in diplomatic Minuscule with Littera Elongata at top and bottom, including imperial monogram and contemporary signatures at foot of page, date of issue in lower margin, wax seal in lower right-hand corner (100 mm diameter), seal in excellent condition, likely the best preserved seal of Emperor Henry V; overall good copy with few illegible instances, in custom made box; creases from vertical and horizontal folding noticeable, light water damage to bottom and right margin.

Single leaf, 455 cm x 285 mm, 20 lines, ruled, Latin, written in diplomatic Minuscule with Littera Elongata at top and bottom, including imperial monogram and contemporary signatures at foot of page, date of issue in lower margin, wax seal in lower right-hand corner (100 mm diameter), seal in excellent condition, likely the best preserved seal of Emperor Henry V; overall good copy with few illegible instances, in custom made box; creases from vertical and horizontal folding noticeable, light water damage to bottom and right margin. SENSATIONAL REDISCOVERY OF AN EXTREMELY RARE CHARTER BY KING HENRY V, EMPEROR OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, WITH HIS SEAL IN PRISTINE CONDITION PROVENANCE 1. Written in the chancellery of Henry V in 1116 during his travels to Italy. 2. Europe, Private Collection. COMMENTARY This intriguing charter was issued on behalf of King Henry V, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (1081/86 –1125) in 1116. The document was believed to be lost in 1917 during the Battle of Caporetto but has now resurfaced. Only three imperial charters issued by German emperors of the Saxon to the Hohenstaufen period were sold in the last fifty years, two of them in poor condition and without their seals. Fewer than ten examples have come onto the market over the last century, making the appearance of this charter a sensational find. Imperial Charters are elusively rare on the market, with most extant examples being held in public libraries. Adding to its rarity, the charter is also a fascinating witness to the tumultuous reign of Henry V, the last king of the Salian dynasty, which controlled the Holy Roman Empire from 1024 until 1125. Henry had forced his father to abdicate and captured Pope Paschal II to increase his control over the church. In the year of the issuance, the emperor was forced to travel to Italy to secure his dominion over the Italian states, in the hope of tipping the scales in his favour in the power struggles against rising forces in the North. According to Ficker (cf. Forschungen vol.1, p.201) this charter provides the earliest textual witness for an imperial ban that combined imperial disgrace with the confiscation of goods to punish vassals. To deter the Duke of Treviso from rallying against him, Henry V had previously enacted one of the severest punishments an emperor of the Holy Roman Empire could bestow upon one of his subjects. The so-called imperial ban (germ. Reichsacht) stripped a subject of all their rights and properties, negating even the most fundamental right to live. Anyone who injured or killed someone under an imperial ban was absolved from any legal repercussions. It remains unclear which crime exactly was committed by Duke Rainbald of Treviso against Henry V and his father. Maybe the Duke supported the uprising of the Italian city-states against the German king, destabilising the region? Interestingly, the document includes the then two underage sons of Duke Rainbald, whose children, contrary to the wording of the charter, most likely didn’t play a role in the offences committed against the emperor. However, in his charter, Emperor Henry V forgives the brothers Ansedisius and Wido, as well as their father, Duke Rainbald of Treviso, officially lifting the imperial ban which had been placed upon them. The charter reinstates all three men into the current Emperor’s good graces and forgoes the charges brought against them. Henry V also restitutes and confirms their father’s property to them, which the brothers had lost in consequence of the imperial ban. The charter was written by the Notary Adalbert A (cf. Hausmann, Reichskanzlei 66 no 74). 18th-century copies of the charter can be found in Ms. 1060, p. 68 of the Public Library of Treviso and in the State Archive of Modena, no. 12, p.24-25, who were used for the text of the Monumenta Germania Historica. This charter is an important historical witness to the reign of Heinrich V, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire with his seal in excellent condition. We thank Professor Gerhard Lubich for his insights. LITERATURE Published in two 18th-century copies: ms. 1060 (Doglioni), p.68, Public Library of Treviso and no. 12 in the State Archive of Modena, p.24-25. Printed in Muratori, Ant. Ital. 2,39 incomplete (cf. Anm. e) “ex archivo praestantissimi viri Antonii Rambaldi comitis de Collalto” (m); 4,67. – Vinciguerra Conte di Collalto etc. (based on the copy of 1814) 16 incomplete (s. Anm. z). Sansovino, Origine delle famiglie illustri d’Italia (ed.I) 3; (ed.II) 4. – Ficker in Wilmans, Add. z. Westf. UB 92 no 116/27. – Indices … Muratorii 87 no 788. – Lizier, Note intorno alla storia di Treviso 83. – Jaksch, Mon. duc. Carinthiae 3,225 no 555. – Huter, Tyrol UB 1.1,67 no 145. – KLAAR, Eppensteiner in Kärnten 67 no 92b. – Böhmer Reg. 2046. – Stumpf Reg. 3127; all dated March 1161. Transcription of a copy of the document in Monumenta Germaniae Historica https://data.mgh.de/databases/ddhv/dhv_155.htm FURTHER READING Ficker, Julius, Forschungen zur Reichs- und Rechtsgeschichte Italiens, vol. 1, (Innsbruck: Wagner, 1868) Goez, Elke. "Zwischen Reichszugehörigkeit und Eigenständigkeit: Heinrich V. und Italien. Ein Werkstattbericht." In Heinrich V. in seiner Zeit. Herrschen in einem europäischen Reich des Hochmittelalters, ed. Gerhard Lubich, Köln: Böhlau, 2013, pp. 215-232. Hausmann, Friedrich, Reichskanzlei und Hofkapelle unter Heinrich V. und Konrad III. (Stuttgart: Hiersemann, 1956) Lubich, Gerhard, Heinrich V. — Der letzte Salierkaiser (Theiss: Freiburg i. Br., 2024). Lubich, Gerhard (ed.). Heinrich V. in seiner Zeit: Herrschen in einem europäischen Reich des Hochmittelalters. Forschungen zur Kaiser- und Papstgeschichte des Mittelalters, Beihefte, 34. Wien: Böhlau, 2013. Thiel, Matthias, Studien zu den Urkunden Heinrichs V. (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2017). Waas, Adolf. Heinrich V. Gestalt und Verhängis des letzten salischen Kaisers, (München: Gerog D. W. Callwey, 1967).

View 1 of Lot 12:  Imperial Charter issued by Emperor Heinrich V of the Holy Roman Empire | Italy, likely Treviso | 1116, with Imperial monogram and seal

imperial charter issued by emperor heinrich v of the holy roman empire | italy, likely treviso | 1116, with imperial monogram and seal

CHRIST PRESENTS THE MISSION TO ST PETER in a historiated initial cut from an illuminated Dominican(?) Antiphonary(?), in Latin, manuscript on vellum. [Germany (Cologne), 14th century (2nd? quarter)]

CHRIST PRESENTS THE MISSION TO ST PETER in a historiated initial cut from an illuminated Dominican(?) Antiphonary(?), in Latin, manuscript on vellum. [Germany (Cologne), 14th century (2nd? quarter)] a cutting, c. 90 × 105mm, cropped to the contours of the frame around the initial ‘E’, the reverse with fragments of text and music in square notation on two four-line red staves, the rastrum 25mm, the text (‘[propt]er filium homi[nis gaudete et exsultate] ecce enim merces’) from the antiphon ‘Beati eritis cum vos oderint homines’ for the Common of the Apostles, the initial therefore doubtless from the antiphon ‘Ecce ego mitto vos sicut oves in medio luporum’ (Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves), depicting Christ making a gesture of instruction and giving a book to St Peter, behind whom stands St Paul and two other apostles, all within a gothic architectural frame with crockets; in very fine condition with only very minor imperfections; framed. This is one of the finest initials from a group of cuttings and leaves extracted from choirbooks made for Franciscan and Dominican houses in Cologne in the early 14th century, which have attracted attention from art historians for more than sixty years (e.g. Knaus, 1960; Oliver, 1978; Benecke, 1995; Gummlich-Wagner, 2005; Kidd, 2019). These choirbooks were illuminated by followers of Johannes von Valkenburg, who wrote the text, supplied the music, and illuminated two Franciscan graduals, which he signed and dated 1299 (Cologne, Diözesan- und Dombibliothek, MS 1B, and Bonn, Universitätsbibliothek, MS 384). Several of them seem certain to have been made for the Franciscan convent of St Clare, founded in Cologne in 1304. They are characterised by elegant figures against patterned backgrounds set under crocketted architectural features, often illuminated in silver, and with a palette combining bright enamel-like reds and blues with much softer, more muted colours. The style either influenced, or was influenced by, Cologne stained-glass painting of the same period. Several leaves and cuttings from the group are in the McCarthy collection (Kidd, 2019, cat. nos. 50–53), including two that are apparently from the same Antiphonary, which was probably Dominican, as suggested by the fact that the feast of St Peter Martyr is treated as a major feast (cat. no. 53). Another of the McCarthy cuttings (cat. no. 51) has the same subject and the same text as the present one, although it is somewhat earlier in date and the iconography is different, with Christ seated, and is doubtless from a Franciscan manuscript, because there is a praying Franciscan in the adjacent margin. PROVENANCE 1. Constantin Raderschatt (d. before 1886), collector of early prints and drawings, of Cologne: his sale by Heberle, 24–26 January 1887, lot 650. 2. Mortimer Brandt (1905–1993), Old Master paintings and drawings dealer, of New York: probably acquired between June 1962 and 1966; his inventory no. 1424 (Bober, 1966, no. 2); Roger Wieck records how his collection of illuminations toured to at least fifteen exhibition venues from 1964 to 1986 (Wieck, 1996, at p. 249); placed on deposit at the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, until sold in 1988 to: 3. Sam Fogg and Bruce Ferrini 4. Sold at Christie’s, 26 June 1991, lot 5 (front cover col. ill.); bought by: 5. The Boehlen Collection, Bern, MS 1300. LITERATURE J.M. Heberle, Cologne, Catalog der graphischen Sammlungen aus dem Nachlasse des Herrn Constantin Raderschatt zu Köln: Pergamentmanuscripte … Miniaturen … etc.; Versteigerung zu Köln, 24–26 January 1887. H. Knaus, ‘Johann von Valkenburg und seine Nachfolger: Zur Kölner Buchmalerei der frühen Gotik’, Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens, 19 (1960), 457–66 (reprinted in Knaus, Studien zur Handschriftenkunde, 1991, pp. 35–50). H. Bober, The Mortimer Brandt Collection of Medieval Manuscript Illuminations ([New York?], 1966) no. 2. J. Oliver, ‘The Mosan Origins of Johannes von Valke’, Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch, 40 (1978), pp. 23–37. S. Benecke, Randgestaltung und Religiosität: Die Handschriften aus dem Kölner Kloster St. Klara (Ammersbek bei Hamburg, 1995). R.S. Wieck, ‘Folia Fugitiva: The Pursuit of the Illuminated Manuscript Leaf’, Journal of the Walters Art Gallery, 54 (1996), pp. 233–54. J.C. Gummlich-Wagner, ‘Buchmalerei aus dem Kölner Minoritenskriptorium: Das Valkenburg-Graduale (Cod. 1001b der Diözesan- und Dombibliothek Köln) und sein Umfeld’, in Mittelalterliche Handschriften der Kölner Dombibliothek, ed. by H. Finger (Cologne, 2005), pp. 286–338. P. Kidd, The McCarthy Collection, II: Spanish, English, Flemish, and Central European Miniatures (London, 2019), referring to the present cutting at p. 208 (‘Private Collection, Switzerland’) and reproducing it at p. 210 fig. 53.2.

View 1 of Lot 18: Illuminated Initial, C14th | Christ presents the Mission to St Peter from an illuminated Dominican(?) Antiphonary(?), in Latin, manuscript on vellum. [Germany (Cologne), 14th century (2nd? quarter)]

illuminated initial, c14th | christ presents the mission to st peter from an illuminated dominican(?) antiphonary(?), in latin, manuscript on vellum. [germany (cologne), 14th century (2nd? quarter)]

Music and Antiquarian Books and Manuscripts

Property from the Brooklyn Museum, sold to support Museum Collections Book of Hours, Use of Rome in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Italy (Padua?), late 15th century] iii + 262 + ii leaves, c.97×70 mm, the vellum exceptionally fine; written with 13 lines per page, c.51×32mm; ILLUMINATED WITH FIVE LARGE HISTORIATED INITIALS ACCOMPANIED BY FULL INHABITED BORDERS, the start of each major text, the individual hours and other lesser textual divisions with five- to ten-line foliate initials and partial borders; some flaking of pigments and oxidisation of the lead white pigment, and smudging of the initial on f.212r. Bound in 19th-century (c.1830?) English brown calf with a gilt Grolieresque design, the centre of each cover with the name and arms of Henry Gee Barnard, the spine with title ‘Missale Romanum Sec. XVI’; edges gilt and gauffered; detached from the textbook at the back joint. TEXT Calendar (f.1r); Hours of the Virgin, ‘secundum curiam’, with Matins (f.14r), Lauds (f.27r), Prime (f.43v), Terce (f.50v), Sext (f.57r), None (f.63r), Vespers (f.69r), Compline (f.80v); the 7 Penitential Psalms and litany (f.115r); Office of the Dead (f.145r); Hours of the Cross (f.212r), and of the Spirit (f.221r); Psalter of St Jerome (f.227r); devotions to St Jerome (f.250v) and St Katherine (f.254r); the Verses of St Bernard ‘O bone Ihesu …’ (f.258r); prayers to St Michael and God, ending at f.263v. PROVENANCE 1. The volume was written for use in or near Padua: the litany includes Justina of Padua, and the calendar has Daniel (3 January) and Anthony (13 June), both in red, and Prosdocimus (7 November). Homobonus of Cremona, patron of merchants, is also present but written as ‘Hominis boni’(!) (13 November). The dimidiated arms of the first owners are in the margin of the first page of the Hours of the Virgin, surrounded by gems of the same colours (gules and vert); the initial to the prayer to St Katherine is exceptionally large (f.254v), suggesting that the wife’s name was Caterina, while an unverified flyleaf note states that the ‘Arms are Daghoni of Belluno’. 2. Henry Gee Barnard (1789–1858), of Cave Castle, Yorkshire; bound for him. Clearly a discriminating collector, three of his other Books of Hours are now in the British Library (Yates Thompson MS 6) and Morgan Library (MSS M.199 and M.227). 3. Unidentified English bookseller(s?), with pencilled catalogue no.(?) ‘527’ and price ‘£35’ (f.i verso), and price-code (back flyleaf). 4. Miss Mary Benson, of Brooklyn; bequeathed in 1919 to the Brooklyn Museum of Art, with their accession no. ‘19.75’ (f.iir) (cf. S. A. Hutchinson, ‘The Mary Benson Bequest of Illuminated Manuscripts and Autograph Letters’, The Brooklyn Museum Quarterly, 6 (October 1919), pp. 222–27). de Ricci, Census, II (1937), p. 1195, no. 8. ILLUMINATION 1. (f.14r) The Virgin and Child, flanked by putti; the border with a bird, and red and green gemstones set in gold mounts surrounding heraldic arms 2. (f.115r) King David in prayer; border with a pet monkey in a landscape 3. (f.145r) A human skull; border with flying stork, and a deer in a landscape 4. (f.212r) The Man of Sorrows; border with a squirrel(?) 5. (f.221r) The Dove of the Holy Spirit; border with a flying bird, and a white rabbit(?). The illumination is by two artists. The extremely fine King David can safely be attributed to Antonio Maria da Villafora, who is well documented in Padua from 1481 to 1511, including many commissions for the Bishop of Padua, Pietro Barozzi (on which see especially ‘La biblioteca del vescovo Pietro Barozzi e l’attività avanzata di Antonio Maria da Villafora e Benedetto Bordon’ in the exhibition catalogue, La miniatura a Padova (1999), cat. nos. 153–159). The last three main illuminated pages are probably also by him: their borders are the same, but it is difficult to do stylistic analysis on subjects such as a skull and a dove. Another artist was responsible for the first miniature, whose border with gemstones show the influence of Girolamo da Cremona, whose early career was also in Padua. It may be by Mariano del Buono, who met Girolamo in Florence. We are grateful to Anna Melograni and Federica Toniolo for advice about the illumination.

View 1 of Lot 66: Book of Hours, Use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Italy (Padua?), late 15th century]

book of hours, use of rome, in latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [italy (padua?), late 15th century]

Property from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery Leaf from the Psalter within a Breviary Illuminated manuscript in Latin on vellum. [France (Paris?), 14th century (2nd quarter or middle?)] Single leaf, c.173×125mm; 2 columns of 30 lines (115x75mm); the text comprising Psalms 104:23–105:11, with antiphons between the psalms; densely illuminated with gold and penwork initials and line-fillers. LITERATURE: Scott Gwara, Otto Ege’s Manuscripts (Cayce, SC, 2013), Handlist no. 24; citing leaves at five American institutions, plus many others that possess a portfolio of ‘Fifty Original Leaves’, in which leaves from this manuscript were no. 24; the leaves at Kenyon College and Amhurst are particularly close to the present one. PROVENANCE: Otto Ege/Philip Duschnes Ege attributed the manuscript to Canterbury, and stated that it is Use of Sarum, but the evidence for this is now not known. While certainly French, not English, it could perhaps have been produced ‘for the English market’, as stated by Gwara. Otto Ege Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Gallery purchase, 1940 (1940:355.18)

View 1 of Lot 13: Leaf from the Psalter within a Breviary, illuminated manuscript in Latin on vellum, [France (Paris?), 14th century)]

leaf from the psalter within a breviary, illuminated manuscript in latin on vellum, [france (paris?), 14th century)]

ST PAUL(?) and KING SOLOMON: two historiated initials on a leaf from the Villeneuve-lès-Avignon Bible, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum

ST PAUL(?) and KING SOLOMON: two historiated initials on a leaf from the Villeneuve-lès-Avignon Bible, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [France (probably Paris), 13th century (2nd half)] a single leaf, c. 210 × 150mm, written in two columns of 55 lines, the text comprising the usual prologue to Proverbs and the beginning of Proverbs, written in minute gothic script with capitals stroked in red, rubrics in red, with notes to the rubricator slightly cropped at the extreme lower edge, foliated in pencil ‘215’ in the lower corner, illuminated with TWO HISTORIATED INITIALS, ‘C’(romatio et Heliodoro) and ‘P’(arabole Salomonis) depicting, respectively, a balding saint seated on a bench holding a sword, and a seated king holding a whip instructing a tonsured student who reads from a book; cuts in the leaf at the upper and lower edge of the main initial repaired, marginalia in tiny script is mostly erased except for original textual corrections; in a giltwood frame with a photocopy of the verso attached to the back of the frame. PROVENANCE Produced in Paris, and probably written by a Carthusian or Cistercian scribe, to judge by the use of punctus flexus punctuation (as noted by Ker, 1969, p. xii n. 2: ‘Bibles with flex punctuation are rare’ – referring to leaves from the present manuscript as an example); in light of the subsequent provenance, it was probably written for a Carthusian monk, perhaps of the Chartreuse de Vauvert, founded in 1257 on what is now the site of the Jardin de Luxembourg, Paris.THE CHARTREUSE OF VAL DE BÉNÉDICTION AT VILLENEUVE-LÈS-AVIGNON, founded by Pope Innocent VI in 1356 and suppressed in 1790: the first flyleaf of the parent volume is reported (Maggs, 1962) to have been inscribed ‘Ista biblia est domus cartusiensis in villa nova prope avinionem’ (repeated on the verso of the second flyleaf), below which were a 16th-century inscription and an 18th-cent. ownership stamp: ‘Cartusie Villenovae’. For manuscripts from the Charterhouse see Viellard, 1964, and de Forbin, 1988; a 15th-century Carthusian Breviary from the house was sold in our rooms, 25 June 1985, lot 86.The parent volume was apparently broken up in 1960 or January 1961 by The Folio Society (or by Louis Bondy, as suggested by de Hamel, 2000, p. 51): Maggs apparently acquired at least one leaf from The Folio Society in January 1961, and the latter were offering multiple leaves, of three different types, in their ‘Spring 1961’ catalogue; leaves were being offered by other London bookdealers later the same year.The present leaf was sold in our rooms, 5 December 2012, part of lot 4; bought by:The Boehlen Collection, Bern, MS 1319 ILLUMINATION The larger initial has standard iconography for a 13th-century Paris Bible: King Solomon, seated and wearing a crown, threatens his son Rehoboam with punishment while pointing to the latter’s open book. It is therefore all the more surprising that the other initial has a depiction of St Paul (it must be him, to judge by his bald forehead and the way in which he holds his sword): there is no obvious reason for him to be used to illustrate an Old Testament prologue by Jerome. The style is typical of Parisian illumination of the third quarter of the 13th century, with figures and draperies delineated with black lines, with lead-white for flesh areas and the palette otherwise dominated by dark blue and bright red (perhaps a taste deriving from contemporary stained glass), and gold used sparingly for details such as crowns and halos, and to add sparkle to the outer parts of initials. A list of about 35 leaves from the parent manuscript, including 16 at the Bodleian Library (MS. Lat. bib. e. 6), is provided by Manion et al., 1989. REFERENCES The Folio Society, Catalogue 3: Collectors’ Corner (Spring 1961), no. 108 (a)–(c). Maggs Bros., European Miniatures and Illumination: Bulletin 2 (London, November 1962), no. 13 (ill.). J. Viellard, ‘Manuscrits de la Chartreuse de Villeneuve-lès-Avignon conservés à la Bibliothèque Vaticane’, in Mélanges Eugene Tisserant, 7, Studi e testi, 237 (Vatican, 1964), pp. 441–50. N.R. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, I: London (Oxford, 1969). F. de Forbin, ‘Les manuscrits de la chartreuse Villeneuve-lès-Avignon’, in Les Chartreux et l’art, XIVe–XVIIIe siècle, ed. A. Girard and D. Le Blévec (Paris, 1988), pp. 39–63. M.M. Manion, V.F. Vines, and C. de Hamel, Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in New Zealand collections (Melbourne, 1989), cat. no. 68. C. de Hamel, ‘Selling Manuscript Fragments in the 1960s’, in Interpreting and Collecting Fragments of Medieval Books, ed. by L.L Brownrigg and M.M. Smith (Los Altos Hills and London, 2000), pp. 47–55 at 51–52.

View 1 of Lot 35: ST PAUL(?) and KING SOLOMON: two historiated initials on a leaf from the Villeneuve-les-Avignon Bible, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum. [France (probably Paris), 13th century (2nd half)]

st paul(?) and king solomon: two historiated initials on a leaf from the villeneuve-les-avignon bible, in latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum. [france (probably paris), 13th century (2nd half)]

Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs and Carpets

Persian manuscript on paper, 597 pages plus 2 fly-leaves, misbound, 15 lines to the page, written in black nasta’liq, gold and black intercolumnar rules, text within gold and polychrome rules, headings in red, catchwords, each section with an opening illuminated bifolium, with 49 illustrations in gouache heightened in gold, later final page with text in fine nasta'liq within cusped cartouches in nakhuni technique with interlinear text in black ink, in gilt tooled leather binding, with marbled paper doublures

Persian manuscript on paper, 597 pages plus 2 fly-leaves, misbound, 15 lines to the page, written in black nasta’liq, gold and black intercolumnar rules, text within gold and polychrome rules, headings in red, catchwords, each section with an opening illuminated bifolium, with 49 illustrations in gouache heightened in gold, later final page with text in fine nasta'liq within cusped cartouches in nakhuni technique with interlinear text in black ink, in gilt tooled leather binding, with marbled paper doublures 29 by 17cm.

View 1 of Lot 29: Shaykh Muslih al-Din Sa’di (d.1291/92 AD), Kulliyat (Collected Works), an illustrated and illuminated manuscript, India, probably Delhi, circa 1800

shaykh muslih al-din sa’di (d.1291/92 ad), kulliyat (collected works), an illustrated and illuminated manuscript, india, probably delhi, circa 1800

Illuminated initial, cutting, tempera and burnished gold on vellum, 85 x 90 mm, initial ‘S’, reverse with remains of one line of text and music on a four-line red stave, rastrum 42 mm, slight cracking and some rubbing to the gold leaf, cut to shape, framed

Illuminated initial, cutting, tempera and burnished gold on vellum, 85 x 90 mm, initial ‘S’, reverse with remains of one line of text and music on a four-line red stave, rastrum 42 mm, slight cracking and some rubbing to the gold leaf, cut to shape, framed SAINTLY BISHOP ILLUMINATED BY THE MASTER OF THE GRADUALS OF SAN SALVATORE Set against a golden backdrop within an elegantly curving initial 'S', the saintly figure of a bishop stands. His gaze directed to the left, humbly cast downward as if in deep contemplation. This serene and thoughtful expression of the Bishop Saint reveals the strong influence of the artist Vincenzo Foppa (1430-1515/6), one of the most prominent Lombard painters. The velvet nature of the colours and the soft shading for the skin and cloth reveal the high quality of work achieved by the Master of the Graduals of San Salvatore which recalls the smooth painted surfaces of the artist’s monumental works in panel paintings (cf. a panel with St Dominic, priv. coll.; see Mulas, op. cit. 2007, fig. 3). This illumination was attributed to the Master of the Graduals of San Salvatore in Pavia by the scholar Pier Luigi Mulas (Le Maître des Graduels de San Salvatore de Pavie’, pp. 223-33, and ‘I Corali di San Sisto’, pp. 45-66). The artist takes their sobriquet from two graduals, now held at the Pavia, Museo Civico, MSS 544 and 545, which he illuminated for the Benedictine monastery of San Salvatore in Pavia. This Master was active around the end of the fifteenth until the beginning of the sixteenth century in Lombardy where he worked not only as an illuminator but also as a panel painter. Like many of the leading artists of the time, he was able to create monumental works such as frescoes and panel paintings as well as small-formatted works like miniatures for illuminated manuscripts. Over the duration of his career, the Master developed from the more traditionally Gothic approach inspired by the works of Belbelo da Pavia, to a decorative Renaissance style. All works produced by the Master of the Graduals of San Salvatore appear to have been created for Benedictine monasteries belonging to the congregation of Santa Giustina, Padua (Canova 1984, p. 490), which suggests the artist might have been a member of the order. PROVENANCE 1. Reiss & Sohn, 2001. 2. Private Collection. 3. Sotheby's, London, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts Sale, 6 December 2016, lot 9. 4. Acquired by present owner from the above sale. LITERATURE Ibidem. ‘I Corali di San Sisto’, in I corali benedettini di San Sisto a Piacenza, 2011, pp. 45-66, esp. p. 57, fig. 15. Mulas , Pier Luigi. ‘Le Maître des Graduels de San Salvatore de Pavie’, in Quand la peinture était dans les livres, 2007, pp. 223-33, esp. p. 223. Mariani Canova, Giordana. "La miniatura nei manoscritti liturgici della congregazione di S. Giustina in area padana: opere e contenuti devozionali." In Riforma de/la Chiesa, cultura e spiritualita nel quattrocento veneto: Atti de! convegno per ii VI Centenario de/la nascita di Ludovico Barbo, Cesena, pp. 490.

View 1 of Lot 32: Illuminated Initial, C15/16th | A Bishop Saint, historiated initial ‘S’ from a Choirbook on vellum, illuminated by the Master of the Graduals of San Salvatore in Pavia, Italy (Lombardy), c. 1500

illuminated initial, c15/16th | a bishop saint, historiated initial ‘s’ from a choirbook on vellum, illuminated by the master of the graduals of san salvatore in pavia, italy (lombardy), c. 1500

An illuminated single leaf, 542 x 364mm leaf, 164 x 46mm, from a Gradual, in Latin with historiated initial ‘I’ depicting St Anthony of Padua (six lines high), encompassing seven lines of music and text, contemporary folio number 'lxxxi', the initial opens the Introit for the feast of St Anthony of Padua on June 13th, ‘In medio ecclesie aperuit os eius’, rubrics in red, verso with one blue initial with red penwork (some fading of text on verso), aside from slight flaking in nimbus in good condition with wide clean margins, unframed.

An illuminated single leaf, 542 x 364mm leaf, 164 x 46mm, from a Gradual, in Latin with historiated initial ‘I’ depicting St Anthony of Padua (six lines high), encompassing seven lines of music and text, contemporary folio number 'lxxxi', the initial opens the Introit for the feast of St Anthony of Padua on June 13th, ‘In medio ecclesie aperuit os eius’, rubrics in red, verso with one blue initial with red penwork (some fading of text on verso), aside from slight flaking in nimbus in good condition with wide clean margins, unframed. AN ATTRACTIVE AND EARLY EXAMPLE BY LIPPO VANNI, ONE OF SIENA’S LEADING MINIATURISTS PROVENANCE 1. Leaf from a Gradual created in Siena in the early 1340s, potentially for a Franciscan monastery. 2. Formerly in the Six and Beets collections, Amsterdam. 3. Sotheby's 11th July 1966, lot 194. COMMENTARY This attractive leaf shows St Anthony of Padua (1195 –1231), one of the most revered followers of Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan order. A Lisbon native, Anthony had an illustrious, albeit short, life and monastic career, serving as envoy in 1228 for the General Chapter to Pope Gregory IX and later provincial superior of Northern Italy, where he chose to settle in Padua. Only a year after his death, St Anthony was canonised and in 1946, he was bestowed the title ‘Doctor of the Church’ by Pope Pius XII, a title he shares with St Augustine (see lot 18). Anthony, due to his moving and inspiring preaching, soon caught the attention of St Francis of Assisi and went on to teach both at the University of Montpellier and Toulouse. St Anthony is beseeched for retrieving lost or stolen items, a belief that is related to a story from his life. When an annotated Book of Psalms was stolen, Anthony prayed for its safe return. As a result, not only was the precious book returned, but the repentant thief rejoined the Franciscan order. This miniature, with its muted but powerful palette, shows a solemn grey-clad St Anthony, who, averting his gaze from the onlooker, glances contemplatively into the margins. The initial was created by one of the leading Sienese illuminators of the period, Lippo Vanni, who was active as a painter in Siena from 1341 to 1372. For the first ten years of this period, he worked chiefly as a miniaturist. Vanni’s work was influenced by Pietro Lorenzetti, whose introduction of naturalism into Sienese painting foreshadowed the flourishing production of Renaissance art in the region. Our artist was also closely linked to the Master of Sant’Eugenio, whose activity decorating a series of choirbooks for churches in and around Siena can be documented from 1340 to 1375. It is assumed that Vanni might have trained in this Master’s workshop (De Benedictis, 1994). The present leaf originates from a choirbook whose leaves can be found in several leading European and American collections, including four leaves in the Rijksmuseum and three in the Philadelphia Free Library (Tanis, 2001, pp.170-72). This leaf is a beautiful example of the early work of Lippo Vanni, showing a graceful and composed St Anthony in an elegant palette. LITERATURE Freuler, Gaudenz, Ancora sulla miniatura senese dei secoli XIII-XV. Postille ad un libro (Parte II), Arte Cristiana, XCVII, 2009, 854, pp.321ff. Freuler, Gaudenz, ‘Lippo Vanni’, in Dizionario biografico dei miniatori italiani secoli IX-XVI, a cura di Milvia Bollati, prefazione di Miklós Boskovits, Milano, Sylvestre Bonnard, 2004, pp.394-397 Freuler, Gaudenz, in Ada Labriola, Cristina de Benedictis, Gaudenz Freuler, La miniatura senese 1270-1420, a cura di Cristina De Benedictis, Milano, Skira, 2002, pp.319-331 Marle, R. van. “Cinque Miniature di Lippo Vanni.” La Diana 4 (1929): p. 159-60, where the present miniature, wrongly described as St Francis, is reproduced. FURTHER READING De Benedictis, Cristina, Lippo Vanni, in: La fortuna dei primitivi. Tesori d’arte dalle collezioni italiane fra Sette e Ottocento. Catalogo della mostra, Firenze, Gallerie dell’Accademia, 28 giugno-8 dicembre 2014, a cura di Angelo Tartuferi e Gianluca Tormen, Firenze, Giunti, 2014, pp.505-07. De Benedictis, Cristina, “Pietro Lorenzetti e la miniatura”, Studi Mina Gregori, 1994, p.21-25. Tanis, J.R. ed. Leaves of Gold: Manuscript Illumination from Philadelphia Collections. Philadelphia, 2001, p.170-72. Os, H. W. van. “Lippo Vanni as a Miniaturist.” Simiolus 7, 2 (1974): p.70 (fig. 5) (ill.) (article, pp.67-90).

View 1 of Lot 4: St Anthony of Padua, historiated initial 'I' on a leaf from a Gradual, in Latin | Italy, Siena | early 1340s

st anthony of padua, historiated initial 'i' on a leaf from a gradual, in latin | italy, siena | early 1340s

gouache heightened with gold on paper, 20 lines to the page, above and below the painting, written in small naskh script in black ink in 6 columns, red rules, the reverse with 30 lines of text, titles in larger black and red script

gouache heightened with gold on paper, 20 lines to the page, above and below the painting, written in small naskh script in black ink in 6 columns, red rules, the reverse with 30 lines of text, titles in larger black and red script Painting: 9.8 by 24cm; text panel: 28.9 by 24cm; leaf: 35.9 by 29.3cm.

an illustrated and illuminated leaf from a manuscript of firdausi's shahnameh: rustam fighting isfandiyar, copied by hasan ibn muhammad ibn ‘ali ibn husaini (al-mausili), persia, shiraz, 741 ah/1341 ad

CHRIST BEFORE CAIAPHAS, a large miniature, initial, and full border on a leaf from a Book of Hours, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum

CHRIST BEFORE CAIAPHAS, a large miniature, initial, and full border on a leaf from a Book of Hours, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [France (Brittany, Rennes), 15th century (c.1430s)] a leaf, c. 180 × 140mm, with a miniature for Prime in the Hours of the Virgin above four lines of text and a four-line initial, surrounded by a full border, the miniature depicting Christ, bleeding from his crown of thorns, his wrists bound, brought by a group of men in armour and brightly coloured clothes before Caiaphas, enthroned and holding a fleur-de-lys-topped sceptre, the scene set off against a diaper background and a striking floor of small triangular green and black tiles; in fine condition overall, in an attractive 19th-century gilt frame with punch-tooled designs. PROVENANCE From a manuscript already broken-up by the late 19th century, when one of the miniatures was bequeathed to the Musée Dobrée, Nantes (Charron et al., 2013).Perhaps owned by Pierre Berès, Paris, who had three other leaves from the same manuscript (Berès, [1974]), the present leaf was also published by Eberhard König in 1982 as being on the Paris art market.Neil F. Philips (1924–1997), Q.C., of Montreal, New York, and Virginia; by descent to his heirs; sold in our rooms, 23 June 1998, lot 27 (col. ill.); bought by a Belgian collector.Sold in our rooms, 5 July 2016, lot 36 (col. ill.); bought by:The Boehlen Collection, Bern, MS 1436 ILLUMINATION This fine Breton miniature was published by Eberhard Konig as the work of the MASTER OF WALTERS 221 (König, 1982, p. 120, fig. 285). The artist, named after a fragmentary Book of Hours in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, was active in western France in the 1430s and 1440s. A major centre of book illumination, Rennes was a thriving city that had largely escaped the ravages of the Hundred Years’ War. John Plummer, in his description of Morgan Library, MS M. 173 (Plummer, 1982) states that it was probably painted by two illuminators, to whom the three Berès miniatures can be attributed; in fact, the two artists can also be distinguished among the three Berès miniatures: the artist of his Entombment is the one responsible for the present miniature. Five other miniatures from the same manuscript are known to have survived: The Entombment (Berès, no. 8 (ill.))The Last Judgement (Berès, no. 9 (ill.))St Sebastian (Berès, no. 10 (ill.); sold at Christie’s, 10 July 2019, lot 508)The Betrayal (sold in our rooms, 4 December 2007, lot 27, and 23 May 2017, lot 24, col. ill.; and at Christie’s, 10 July 2019, lot 509 (col. ill.))The Lamentation (Nantes, Musée Dobrée, inv. 896.1.4159) REFERENCES Pierre Berès, Paris, Manuscrits & enluminures du onzième au dix-huitième siècle [c.1974 (after May 1973)], nos. 8–10. E. König, Französische Buchmalerei um 1450: der Jouvenal-Maler, der Maler des Genfer Boccaccio, und die Anfänge Jean Fouquets (Berlin, 1982), p. 120 and fig. 285 (‘Paris, Kunsthandel’). J. Plummer, The Last Flowering: French Painting in Manuscripts, 1420–1530, from American Collections (New York, 1982), pp. 17–18. Trésors enluminés des musées de France: pays de la Loire et Centre, ed. by P. Charron et al. (Angers & Paris, 2013), no 27. J.-L. Deuffic, Le livre d’heures enluminé en Bretagne (Turnhout, 2019), p. 410 no. 134.

View 1 of Lot 63: CHRIST BEFORE CAIAPHAS, a large miniature, initial, and full border on a leaf from a Book of Hours, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum. [France (Brittany, Rennes), 15th century (c.1430s)]

christ before caiaphas, a large miniature, initial, and full border on a leaf from a book of hours, in latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum. [france (brittany, rennes), 15th century (c.1430s)]

gouache and ink heightened with gold on paper, 2 lines to the page written in nasta'liq in black ink, verso with 25 lines of black nasta'liq

gouache and ink heightened with gold on paper, 2 lines to the page written in nasta'liq in black ink, verso with 25 lines of black nasta'liq painting: 29.7 by 18.5cm. max. leaf: 35.5 by 24.2cm.

View 1 of Lot 553: An illustrated and illuminated leaf from a manuscript of Firdausi's Shahnameh: Zahhak enthroned watching the sawing of Jamshid, Persia, Qazwin, Safavid, last quarter 16th century

an illustrated and illuminated leaf from a manuscript of firdausi's shahnameh: zahhak enthroned watching the sawing of jamshid, persia, qazwin, safavid, last quarter 16th century

Books and Manuscripts, Medieval to Modern

Sophocles Τραγωδιαι επτα... Tragaediae septem. Venice: Aldus Manutius, in Aldi Romani Academia, August 1502 8vo (163 x 100mm.), text in Greek, FIRST LEAF OF TEXT WITH ILLUMINATED INITIAL AND BORDER, with blank leaves δ4, θ4 and χ10, woodcut Aldine device on final verso, nineteenth-century red straight-grained morocco, gilt fillet border, blind-stamped arms of George Fortescue, flat spine gilt, gilt edges EDITIO PRINCEPS, and the first of Aldus's Greek texts to appear in his new octavo format. Aldus's small Greek cursive appears in this edition for the first time; later in 1502 Francesco Griffo, Aldus's typecutter, left Aldus's employ, and no new fonts were cut after this. This is also the first book in which Aldus's Greek Academy is mentioned, in both the preface and the colophon: "in Aldi Romani Academia". LITERATURE Aldo Manuzio tipografo 62; Edit16 36139; Renouard 34/6; UCLA 60 PROVENANCE George Matthew Fortescue (1791-1877, the nephew of Sir Thomas Grenville), arms on binding

View 1 of Lot 210: Sophocles | Tragaediae septem, Venice, Aldus, 1502, later red morocco, first leaf illuminated, Fortescue copy

sophocles | tragaediae septem, venice, aldus, 1502, later red morocco, first leaf illuminated, fortescue copy

A FINE ROMANESQUE ILLUMINATED INITIAL, cut from Jerome, Praefatio in evangelio, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum

A FINE ROMANESQUE ILLUMINATED INITIAL, cut from Jerome, Praefatio in evangelio, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Germany (Rhineland), 12th century (3rd quarter)] a cutting, c. 100 × 90mm, the reverse preserving parts of 13 lines of text written in a fine bookhand (‘emendandos. Unde acci[dit] ... Lucas Iohannes. In secundo tres’), the illuminated initial ‘B’ doubtless from the incipit ‘Beato papae Damaso Hieronymus’, the initial itself composed of openwork segments in shades of green, red, or gold, filled with scrolling vegetal stems with offshoots, leaves, and terminations in the form of small lush Channel-style ‘Byzantine blossoms’, and symmetrical interlace knotwork at the corners, all set against a pale blue ground; trimmed to the edges with neat cuts at the left left extremities, slight overall wear, but still in good condition and very attractive; framed with a photocopy of the reverse of the cutting stuck to the back of the frame. PROVENANCE Sold in our rooms, 18 June 1996, lot 10; bought by Sam Fogg, apparently on behalf of:The Boehlen Collection, MS 1101 The cropping of this initial to the edges of the decoration, to remove all trace of text from the front, suggests that it may have been excised from its parent volume early in the 19th century, in the wake of the secularisation of religious houses in Germany. In this period it was common to consider illumination as completely separate from the text it adorned, especially if the text was religious, and especially in Protestant countries where there was little appetite for texts associated with the Catholic church. Later in the century it became common to trim such initials to a square or rectangle, preserving some of the surrounding text, or to excise entire leaves rather than just initials, as if to proudly emphasise that a catholic book has been cut up to produce a specimen of medieval art. The quality of the illumination and script here are both very high, and the cutting must come from a very fine manuscript. The repertoire of ornament and its execution bear comparison with contemporary English work, such as a Glossed Psalter thought to have been made at Winchester in the mid 12th century (Bodleian Library, MS. Auct. D. 2. 4), whose Psalm 109 initial is formed of very similar openwork panels, enclosing similarly shaded spirals.

View 1 of Lot 13: A FINE ROMANESQUE ILLUMINATED INITIAL, cut from Jerome, Praefatio in evangelio, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Germany (Rhineland), 12th century (3rd quarter)]

a fine romanesque illuminated initial, cut from jerome, praefatio in evangelio, in latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [germany (rhineland), 12th century (3rd quarter)]

Book of Hours, use of Sarum in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum. [England (perhaps London), late 14th or early 15th century] i+4+ii+152 leaves, c.195×140mm, paginated in modern pencil ignoring the preliminaries and omitting 2 leaves after p.75, two after p.185, and jumping from 266 to 277, repeating 277, and then jumping to 288, thus reaching ‘319’ by the end, most missing leaves replaced by unnumbered blank paper leaves, lacking at least two original leaves before p.1 and single leaves after pp.20, 58, 68, 74, 96, 108, 166, 182, 252, and 260, two leaves after pp.82 and 230, at least two after p.162, and four after p.88, collation: 14, 28-2 (1st & 2nd leaves missing), 38-1 (5th missing), 4–58, 68-2 (1st and 7th missing), 78-1 (3rd missing), 88-5 (1st, 2nd, and 6th–8th missing), 98-2 (1st and 6th missing), 108-1 (5th missing), 11–138, 148-6? (only the last two remain), 158-1 (1st missing), 168-1 (2nd missing), 17–188, 198-2 (middle bifolium missing), 208, 218-2 (1st and 6th missing), 228, 234, 248-2 (last 2 blanks cancelled), mostly with catchwords, several of them with drawings, e.g. a monk and a bishop, p.26, a fantastical beast, p.70, an angel, p.82, a king, p.100, a queen, p.114, written in fine gothic textura, 13 lines per page (130×90mm), ILLUMINATED INITIALS THROUGHOUT, mostly two lines high, some three, five, or six lines high, many pages spotted with damp, a few defective and repaired, overall signs of wear and use; bound in 18th-century half calf and marbled paper over pasteboards, the spine with a red leather title-piece lettered in gilt capitals ‘Missal | Illuminated’ PROVENANCE (1) The use of Sarum was used across most of England in the 15th century, but the high quality of script and decoration suggests that the manuscript was produced in a major centre such as London. (2) The preliminary tables were presumably added within a year of 1438, as they commenced with that year. (3) In the early 16th century Thomas Robards formally registered his ownership of the volume, before witnesses, and inscribed it ‘This is Thomas Robards booke, Witnes by me John Benfylld and Jone Russell and Walter Crays and John Hayward the baylay [i.e. bailiff] finis’ (f.iir). (4) At the Reformation references to Thomas Becket were effaced. (5) Unidentified owner: a clipping from an auction or dealer catalogue describes a ‘Lectionarium et sequentiæ cum antiphonario et orationibus pro festibus ecclesiæ Romanæ […] by an Italian scribe […]’ (front pastedown). (6) Rev. Nathaniel Castleton Stephen Poyntz (1846–1920): inscribed ‘E Libris Nath. C.S. Poyntz’ (front pastedown); his sale at Sotheby’s, 28 June 1921, lot 595. (7) Sotheby’s, 7 December 1992, lot 59; bought by the Schuster Gallery, and from them by the present owner. TEXT Added calendar tables from 1438 to 1540, and notes on lunar calculations for Easter, ‘Luna prima post Epiphaniam computa decem dies et in proximo sabbato claudetur alleluya …’ (unpaginated added leaves); Hours of the Virgin [Use of Sarum], with Matins (p.1), Lauds (p.21), followed by memorials, that to Thomas Becket (effaced, pp.49–50), Nicholas, Mary Magdalene, Katherine, Margaret, All Saints, and Peace, Prime (p.59), Terce (p.69), Sext (p.75), None (p.83), Vespers (p.89) and Compline (p.97); Penitential Psalms (p.168), Fifteen Gradual Psalms (p.141), and Litany (p.148), with Thomas effaced (p.152); further Memorials (p.163); Office of the Dead, Use of Sarum (p.167); Commendation of Souls (p.231), The Prayer of Bede on the Seven Words on the Cross (p.245) preceded by a long rubric assuring the devout user that s/he will not die an evil or unexpected death and will see the Virgin 30 days before dying; The Five verses beginning ‘Mater digna dei’, preceded by a rubric telling that they were revealed by the Virgin to a certain scholar whose head was cut off, but lived to tell the miracle which occurred in Aragon in 1289; the hymn ‘Anima christi sanctifica me’ (p.252) preceded by a rubric telling that Pope John XXII granted 3000 days’ indulgence to those who use it, as given on 3 May 1331 at the request of the King of France; and other prayers.

View 1 of Lot 15: Book of Hours, use of Sarum, illuminated manuscript on vellum, [England, late 14th or early 15th century]

book of hours, use of sarum, illuminated manuscript on vellum, [england, late 14th or early 15th century]

THE FINDING OF MOSES, AND THE PRESENTATION OF MOSES TO PHARAOH, Illuminated by The Master of the Geneva Boccaccio, cut from a copy of Vincent of Beauvais (d. 1264), Speculum historiale, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum

THE FINDING OF MOSES, AND THE PRESENTATION OF MOSES TO PHARAOH, Illuminated by The Master of the Geneva Boccaccio, cut from a copy of Vincent of Beauvais (d. 1264), Speculum historiale, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [France (Loire Valley, Nantes or Angers), 15th century (c. 1460s)] a cutting, c. 130 × 95 mm, including the gently arched top, the back with part of the table of chapters of Book III in a good bâtarde script, with small illuminated initials and line-fillers; a few light creases causing minor pigment losses, the lead white used for the river oxidised to dark grey, cropped to the edges of the decoration; in a giltwood frame. PROVENANCE ? KING RENÉ OF ANJOU (1409–1480), Duke of Anjou, King of Naples, Jerusalem, etc.: the artist worked mainly for René, and the king’s his inventory includes five copies of the text and a Repertorium, whose description in an inventory probably corresponds to the five volumes of the text, plus the Tabula of the text, all illuminated in France but now now in the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, Lisbon (MSS il. 125–130), from one of which (MS. il. 126) the present miniature was cut.PETER BIRMANN (1758–1844), landscape painter and art dealer, and former owner of ‘Les Quarante Fouquet’ (the forty sublime miniatures from the Hours of Etienne Chevalier, now at Chantilly); stuck to fol. 31 of the album of 475 cuttings and leaves which he sold to:DANIEL BURCKHARDT-WILDT (1752–1819), connoisseur and painter, of Basel: sold by his heirs in our rooms, 25 April 1983, lot 129 (six miniatures), bought by:Mark Lansburgh (1925–2013) (on whom see Dutschke, 2024): placed on temporary deposit at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1986 (the reverse of the frame with CMA deposit label); one of the six was acquired by the Museum in 1987 (Klein, 2007); sold, probably in October 1990, to:The Boehlen Collection, Bern, MS 1409. PARENT VOLUME AND ILLUMINATION The Vincent of Beauvais manuscript in Lisbon lacks its first quire and nine other leaves, of which three are now kept separately with their miniatures excised. Only four miniatures survive in the volume, and at least a dozen more are missing from it, including the present lot. The manuscript and its four surviving illuminations ‘de très grand qualité’ were studied in detail by Claude Schaefer in 1974. He attributed the illumination to the Master of Jouvenel des Ursins, one of the painters of King René of Anjou, to whom more than ten works can be attributed, dating from c. 1460 to c. 1475, and suggested that he could be the artist Coppin Delf, who is documented working for King René. One of the manuscripts listed by Schaefer is Geneva, Bibliothèque de Genève (formerly the Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire), MS fr. 191 (on which see Gagnebin, 1976). Eberhard Konig distinguished at least three artists among those grouped together by Schaefer, and gave the painter responsible for the Lisbon and Geneva manuscripts a new name: the Master of the Geneva Boccaccio. Compared to the Master of Jouvenel des Ursins, the Master of the Geneva Boccaccio has a more nervous, less static style, with a less bright palette. The issues of separating the remarkable group of illuminations and illuminators which had long been associated with the early career of Jean Fouquet, including some in books made for members of the Jouvenel des Ursins family, is summarised and reconsidered by François Avril (Avril & Reynaud, 1993, pp. 109–10 and nos. 54–61). Despite some damage, the quality of the painting in this miniature is high. It illustrates Book III with The Finding of Moses and The Presentation of Moses to Pharaoh: Pharaoh’s daughter, extremely finely dressed in blue, accompanied by three handmaids, has found the infant in his basket made of bulrushes and is handing the child to Moss’ mother, who kneels before her (Exodus 2:3–9); in the background Moses has grown to boyhood and is presented to Pharaoh who accepts him as a son despite the warning of the priest Elyopoleas. REFERENCES C. Schaefer, ‘Le Maître de Jouvenel des Ursins (Coppin Delf?), illustrateur du “Speculum historiale” de Vincent de Beauvais (Ms. 126 de la Biblioteca Nacional à Lisbonne)’, Arquivos do Centro Cultural Português, 8 (1974), pp. 81–114, col. pls. I–IV, pls. 1–41. Bulletin de la Société française de la reproductions de manuscrits a peintures, 14 (1932), pls. XIlIb and XIV (‘d’une grande finesse de dessin et coloris … profond et riche’). Bernard Gagnebin, L’Enluminure de Charlemagne à François Ier: Les manuscrits à peintures de la Bibliothèque publique et universitaire de Genève (Geneva, 1976), no. 41. E. König, Französische Buchmalerei um 1450: der Jouvenal-Maler, der Maler des Genfer Boccaccio, und die Anfänge Jean Fouquets (Berlin, 1982), pp. 15, 38, 116, 167, 169, 253 F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France, 1440–1520 (Paris, 1993). Inventário dos códices iluminados até 1500, 1: Distrito de Lisboa, ed. by I. Vilares Cepeda and T.A.S. Duarte Ferreira (Lisbon, 1994), no. 428 at p. 167 (col. ill.). H.A. Klein, ed., Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, 2007), no. 81; also at www.clevelandart.org/art/1987.4 Consuelo Dutschke, ‘Mark Lansburgh: Collector and Seller of Medieval Manuscripts’, in Medieval Manuscripts and Their Provenance: Essays in Honour of Barbara A. Shailor, ed. by A.S.G. Edwards (Woodbridge, 2024), pp. 116–31.

View 1 of Lot 43: THE FINDING OF MOSES, AND THE PRESENTATION OF MOSES TO PHARAOH, Illuminated by The Master of the Geneva Boccaccio, cut from a copy of Vincent of Beauvais (d. 1264), Speculum historiale, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum. [France (Loire Valley, Nantes or Angers), 15th century (c. 1460s)]

the finding of moses, and the presentation of moses to pharaoh, illuminated by the master of the geneva boccaccio, cut from a copy of vincent of beauvais (d. 1264), speculum historiale, in latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum. [france (loire valley, nantes or angers), 15th century (c. 1460s)]

Results for "illuminated manuscripts"