[ENLUMINATION]. [HOURS] - Set of four leaves from a Book of - Lot 182

Lot 182
Go to lot
Estimation :
1800 EUR
Result without fees
Result : 2 000EUR
[ENLUMINATION]. [HOURS] - Set of four leaves from a Book of - Lot 182
[ENLUMINATION]. [HOURS] - Set of four leaves from a Book of Hours Calendar. In French, handwritten illuminated leaves on parchment. France, Paris, circa 1500. Eight small miniatures attributable to the Master of Jean d'Albret (?). Four leaves, calendar in French, gold, red and blue ink, initials KL painted in blue with white highlights on a gold background with floral motifs, smaller initials in gold on a blue or dark red background. Dimensions of each sheet: 108 x 168 mm. The following months are present: March, April, May and June. The calendar follows the one called "composite calendar", generally adopted in the books of hours used in Paris, studied by P. Perdrizet: Le calendrier parisien à la fin du moyen âge d'après le bréviaire et les livres d'heures, Paris, 1933 (Publications de la Faculté des Lettres de l'Université de Strasbourg, 63). See also Drigsdhal for a survey of this calendar and its variants: Drigsdhal, http://manuscripts.org.uk/chd.dk/cals/pariscal.html). Each leaf offers two small miniatures, showing for each month on the front the work of the month and on the back the sign of the zodiac. The miniatures are inscribed in illuminated borders on gold backgrounds with floral or fruit motifs (strawberries). 1. Calendar, month of March, recto, pruning of the vine; verso, sign of the zodiac, Aries. 2. Calendar, month of April, recto, Woman in a garden weaving wreaths of flowers; verso, zodiac sign, Taurus. 3. Calendar, month of May, recto, Man riding horse; zodiac sign, Gemini. 4. Calendar, month of June, recto, Sheep shearing; zodiac sign, Cancer. The Master of Jean d'Albret was named by Isabelle Delaunay (see Delaunay, I. "Échanges artistiques entre livres d'heures, manuscrits et imprimés produits à Paris vers 1480-1500," 3 vols. doctoral thesis, Paris IV, Sorbonne, 2000). He was an artist active in Paris from c. 1490 to c. 1510 who contributed images to both manuscripts and prints. His name derives from two incunabula painted for Jean d'Albret (1469-1516), namely Raoul Le Fèvre, Recueil des histories troiennes, c. 1494 (New York, PML 515 CHL No. F1541; see Winn, Antoine Vérard, 1997, pp. 198-99, 349, figs. 5) and Sébastien Brant, La nef des fous, Paris, A. Bocard for J. Philippe and G. de Marnef, 1497 (Dresden, Sächsische Landesbibliothek, Inc. 4114; Winn, 1997, pp. 198, figs. 4, 26). The Master of Jean d'Albret worked extensively for the printer Antoine Vérard: he illuminated a copy of Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, Euralius et Lucresse, Paris, Antoine Vérard, c. 1493 (London, BL, IB 41145; Winn, 1997, fig. 3.2, p. 90). Also for Vérard, the artist painted Grandes Heures Royales for Anne de Beaujeu (1490) (Coll. Particulière; Winn, 1997, p. 195, fig. 4.25) as well as Heures for Charles d'Angoulême, c. 1492 (New York, PML 127775; Winn, 1997, p. 159, fig. 4.12). Finally, his hand can be recognized in the Hours for the use of Rome (Carpentras, BM, MS 54, see Delaunay, 2000, vol. II, pp. 28-31).
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue