French Illuminator (6 results)

Illuminated with two miniatures of God the Father and Christ, c. 45 x 39 mm (God), c. 45 x 38 (Christ) mm. God the Father clutches a cross topped orb in his left hand, while the right is raised in benediction, his eyes downcast and he is elaborately dressed on the recto. The second portrays a flagellated Christ with his hands bound, dressed in the purple robe he was dressed in before he was led out to be crucified, grasping a reed as a mock sceptre on the verso. The miniatures and text are framed by an elaborately decorated full border with flowers, strawberries, acanthus leaves of pink, red and blue with a dragon to the recto and verso of the lower edge of the border on liquid gold grounds. A single leaf on parchment, c. 180 x 117 mm, ruled in ink, c. 109 x 56 mm (ruled), written on twenty-two lines in brown ink with yellow highlights, in a brown ink, in a gothic textualis script, with rubrics in blue, with two two-line initials in pink highlighted with white on gold grounds with a flower decoration, modern foliation in pencil to the upper corners. The text contains individual prayers dedicated to The Trinity. The text on the recto and half of the verso contains a prayer dedicated to God the Father; 'Domine sa[n]cte pater', ('Lord, Holy Father'). The text at the end of the verso begins the prayer dedicated to The Holy Son; 'Ad filium', ('To the Son'). An excellent example of a finely illuminated leaf. Very minor smudging to the blue headers and the border illumination, with very small pigment loss to the green in the lower corner of the verso. Sight rippling to the parchment, binding marks to the edge of the parchment. Offsetting to the recto of an illuminated initial, and a border to the verso.

No Binding. Condition: Very Good. A late 15th century French illuminated manuscript vellum leaf, with full-page miniature cut from a poem in French on the Passion, depicting Caiphas seated on a throne with Christ brought before him by two sneering peasants in green, the reverse of the leaf has seventeen lines of text with line fillers and two capitals, miniature dimensions: 12cm x 8cm, overall leaf dimensions: 14cm x 9.5cm. Condition: VERY GOOD. A well-preserved example.

Size of leaf: 177mm. by 131mm. 15 lines in an excellent early Gothic bookhand, text enclosed on three sides within thin gold and coloured bars, from which sprout swirls of rinceaux terminating in red, blue and gold leaves entirely filling all borders, water damaged in flood in August 1846, foliated in pencil '156' (text faded on recto)   This is a refined and elegant text leaf from what is perhaps the most famous dispersed Book of Hours in the history of manuscript collecting clearly dated by the scribe to '1408'. The parent manuscript was written by the Parisian scribe of Bodleian, MS. Douce 144, and illuminated by the celebrated Mazarine Master (see G. Bartz, Der Boucicaut-Meister, Tenschert cat. 42, 1999, p.85) and his workshop. The original manuscript bore the inscription which put a precise date on the manuscript : Factum est anno m. cccc. viii quo ceciderunt pontes parisius (referring to the floods which washed away the Petit Pont, the Grand Pont and the Pont Neuf in Paris on 29-31 January 1408). It is very unusual to find manuscript Books of Hours with a precise date, and of over 300 Books of Hours in Leroquais, Livre d'Heures.n 1927, only five examples earlier than 1530 have fixed dates. In the 19th century it was owned by the jeweller, John Boycott Jarman (d.1864), and was damaged during a flood in August 1846, prompting him to enlist William Caleb Wing to retouch some of the miniatures (see J. Backhouse in The British Museum Quarterly 32, 1968, pp.76-92). Thence his sale at Sotheby's, 13 June 1864, lot 47, to Edward Arnold, again his sale in same house, 6 May 1929, lot 240, and then Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (1875-1968), his MS.W MS.103, who had most of the miniatures separately mounted, and gave some text leaves away. The remnant were sold in Sotheby's, 24 June 1969, lots 58 and 58A-K (see also Manion and de Hamel, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in New Zealand Collections , 1989, pp.96-8).

No Binding. Condition: Good. Two original leaves from a 13th century Bible by an anonymous French illuminator, with an historiated initial U of Amos and an historiated initial O of Malachi, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment [France, Paris (?), c. 1225-1250]. A remarkable pair of leaves, from the same early portable pocket Bible, with two historiated initials in a matching and fresh palette of lapis blue, white and red colours, c. 146 x 105 mm. Two columns of 52 lines (written space: c. 100 x 70 mm), with an extra rule in the top margin for the running titles, vertical bounding lines ruled full across, written below top line in light brown ink in a formal gothic book hand, two marginal corrections framed in red, versal initials touched with red, rubrics in red, running titles and chapter numbers alternately in red and blue, five two-line initials alternatively in red and blue with contrasting penwork extending into the margins, two nine-line historiated initials, one in dark blue with beige highlights on light pink ground, framed by lapis blue border decorated with white dots, another in light pink with white highlights on lapis blue ground, framed by light pink border. Condition: Both leaves with slight cockling, some modern foliation in pencil in the margins, old tape stains at the corners, short slice of paper still taped to a corner, remnant of an ancient bookmark in the outer edge, else in good condition. Notes: These two leaves come from a well-documented thirteenth-century portable pocket Bible, a remarkable example of the type which began in the thirteenth century and quickly gained popularity partly among mendicant friars for their portability. The first leaf contains the end of Joel and the beginning of Amos, reading on the recto from Joel 1:17, [Computruerunt jumenta in stercore] suo, demolita sunt horrea, to Amos 1:5 on the verso, et disperdam habitatorem The beginning of Amos is introduced with a historiated initial U , for Verba, with Amos in full length holding a scroll and standing on light pink ground. The second leaf contains the end of Zachariah and the beginning of Malachi, reading on the recto from Zachariah 11:15, Et prĉcidi virgam meam secundam, to Malachi 1:4 on the verso, et vocabuntur termini impietatis The beginning of Malachi is introduced with a historiated initial O , for Onus, with Malachi in full length holding a scroll and standing on blue ground. This is one of those Bibles that reveal some of the working methods of illuminators in the early generations of Paris as a major book-making centre. During the early thirteenth century, production increased so dramatically that various techniques were developed and employed in order to make the process run more smoothly, often to ensure coordination between scribes on the one hand and illuminators on the other. On the present leaves and their sister leaves, many guide-letters are provided by the scribe for the rubricator to indicate chapter numbers and sometimes also initials. In this case the scribe draws ink lines to the left of the text block to mark off spaces for the two initials. In the margin to the right of the initials, the scribe also wrote a large plummet V and O , indicating the initials to be painted. Near most of the initials, someone, perhaps the scribe or stationer, drew simple sketches in the margins (too faint to be visible in reproductions), to indicate the intended iconography of the initials. A typical example is in the margin below Malachi: it shows a figure holding a book or scroll.

No Binding. Condition: Very Good. A late 15th century illuminated manuscript vellum leaf, from a French Book of Hours in Latin, c. 1480, with a detailed arched miniature of a burial measuring 7.5cm x 4.5cm, four lines of text below, surrounded by fruiting plants and foliate scrolls, the reverse of the leaf has fifteen lines of text with two gold and blue capitals, right hand side full-height border of flowers and leaves. Overall leaf size 11cm x 8.5cm. Condition: VERY GOOD. A well-preserved example.

No Binding. Condition: Very Good. A late 15th century French illuminated manuscript vellum leaf, from a Book of Hours in Latin, circle of Master of the Echevinage de Rouen, c. 1480, with a detailed arched miniature of The Flight into Egypt measuring 10cm x 7cm, depicting the Holy family with donkey fleeing through a hilly landscape, with the apocryphal miracle of the corn and two peasants, one dressed in a red tunic with blue leggings and a cap, the other in brown in the background, with a castle, and wooded landscape beyond. Three lines of text in Latin below in a rounded gothic liturgical hand in brown ink. A capital 'D' in purple, white and blue enclosing a red rose. Set within a brightly coloured panel border with red, blue, purple and brown segments decorated with gold sprays and panels with grapes and flowers including roses, hyacinths and lily. The reverse of the leaf with twenty-three lines of text with a panel border. Two two-line initials in liquid gold enclosing flowers and six one-line initials in gold against a red, blue or purple background. Six line fillers in blue, red or purple with gold decoration. Overall dimensions of leaf 16cm x 10.5cm, mounted, glazed (double sided), and framed, 33cm x 27cm. Condition: VERY GOOD. A well-preserved example. The miracle of the corn being a rare subject.