ALSATIAN ILLUMINATOR
A leaf from the Neubourg Missal, with historiated initial of Cistercian monk kneeling before the Virgin and Child, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [France, Alsace, Neubourg Abbey, c. 1450]

Richly illuminated leaf from a deluxe Cistercian Missal, one of eight known folios from this important manuscript that blended Parisian influence with regional styles.

305 × 215 mm (visible portion under mat). Single leaf, ruled in brown ink for two columns of twenty-one lines, (justification: 180 × 137), unfoliated, written in brown ink in Gothic liturgical hand, rubrics in red, five two-line initials (two on recto, three on verso) in burnished gold on pink, blue, and white grounds with two- and three-line marginal extensions of hairline stems terminating in burnished gold leaves, recto with one three-line illuminated ‘S’ in pink, white, and gold and infilled with scrolling floral vines, a blue and burnished gold bar border extending from the initial the length of the central margin, a small furry gold creature with large ears and curling tail sitting atop the bar within a wreath of red and blue acanthus leaves, this the centerpiece of an upper rinceaux border of swirling hairline stems abloom with flowers of various colors and bearing many burnished gold ivy leaves, a lower border of similar design, with a brushed gold urn of flowers at center, a small gold lion reclining amid the vegetation, the same side of the leaf with ONE COLUMN-WIDE MINIATURE (58 mm square) depicting the Virgin and Child and a Cistercian monk kneeling before them. A little paint flaking from the Virgin's robe, otherwise in excellent condition, with lustrous gold, bright pigments, and clean parchment. In a handsome gilt wooden frame (frame: 470 × 370 mm).

This leaf originates from what was certainly a deluxe Cistercian Missal produced c. 1450 for Neubourg Abbey. The large seven-line illumination of the Virgin and Child on the recto forms the introit for the Common of the Blessed Virgin from the Sanctoral: Salve sancta parens, enixa puerpera regem, qui caelorum Dominus est. This is preceded by Marian collects. The illumination is delicately painted just above the large initial depicting the Virgin and Child seated within a walled garden and a Cistercian monk kneeling before them, a banderole emanating from his lips with the words Mater Dei memen[to mei] (Mother of God, remember me). The presence of the monk here witnesses the broader Cistercian emphasis on Marian devotion, and the centrality of the Common of the Blessed Virgin in their observances.

Although Cistercian manuscripts are typically austere, the opulence of this volume—its rinceaux borders, refined gilding, and narrative miniatures—suggests an exceptional commission. The identity of the workshop remains unknown but must have been a group influenced by or associated with Parisian workshops. The miniature’s delicate color palette, dense vine-scroll borders derived from the Boucicaut Master, expressive figuration, and fine gold tracery evoke the elegance of Paris in stark contrast to contemporaneous Alsatian workshops like that of Diebold Lauber in Hagenau (see Schneider 2008). However, some regional influences are present including marginal motifs potentially copied from the Master of the Playing Cards, active in the Rhineland (flourished ca. 1430–1450). The figures in this miniature of the Virgin and Child also resemble works by the Master of the Troyes Missal (e.g. BnF, MS lat. 865 A) especially the physiognomic composition of high foreheads and strong cheekbones. The blending of regional styles with little reference to local movements, underscores the cosmopolitan nature of Neubourg’s commission. As Jeffrey Hamburger (1998) has shown, many monastic institutions in Alsace—particularly Unterlinden in Colmar—collected and commissioned illuminated manuscripts from outside the region, making Alsace a particularly eclectic center of manuscript culture.

Provenance
(1) Probably produced near Hagenau in the diocese of Strasbourg for the Cistercian Abbey of Neubourg. A sister leaf (most recently Les Enluminures MIN 5273) bears the abbey’s coat of arms—sable, with a double tower argent—in the upper right margin. The Abbey’s library maintained a large collection of manuscripts throughout the Middle Ages but was gradually dispersed in subsequent centuries. An inventory performed in 1791 during the suppression of the monastery lists only seven illuminated manuscripts, the Missel not among them (see Sylvie Gueth, “La constitution des bibliothèques publiques dans le Département du Bas-Rhin, 1789–1803,” Doctoral Thesis, Université des Sciences Sociales Grenoble II, Institut d’Etudes Politiques, 1991, no. 32; also Strasbourg, Archives d’Alsace, ADBR Q 4460).

(2) Les Enluminures, Catalogue 5, no. 17b (1996).

(3) Bonhams, New York, Fine Books and Manuscripts, June 25–July 8, 2020, lot 12.

Sister Leaves
The seven sister leaves include (1), the Annunciation, Les Enluminures, Catalogue 3 (1994), no. 23 ; two text leaves with Deer and Fighting Dogs in margins, Les Enluminures, Catalogue 3 (1994), no. 24 (joint listing); the Trinity and Procession of the Holy Sacrament, Les Enluminures MIN 50453; the Nativity of St. Bernard, Sotheby’s, December 5, 1995, lot 8; the Mass of Corpus Christi, Sotheby’s, December 5, 1995, lot 8; the Adoration of the Magi, Les Enluminures, Catalogue 5 (1996), no. 17a; and David in Prayer, Les Enluminures, MIN 5273.

LITERATURE
Unpublished; for related literature see: Francis Rapp, ed., La Mémoire des siècles: 2000 ans d’écrits en Alsace, Strasbourg, 1989; Gerard Cames, Dix siècles d’enluminure en Alsace, Strasbourg, 1989; Jean Wirth “L’enluminure rhénane au XVe siècle,” in L’Art en Alsace au XVe siècle, ed. Daniel Meyer, Strasbourg, 1990, 183–204; Jeffrey F. Hamburger, The Visual and the Visionary: Art and Female Spirituality in Late Medieval Germany, 89–140; Moines et manuscrits: Trésors des bibliothèques monastiques d’Alsace, Colmar, 2005; Ursula Schneider, Ursula, Diebold Lauber: Werkstatt und Wirkung, Wiesbaden, 2008.

We thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Peter Bovenmyer for their assistance in preparing this sale.

This lot is located in Chicago.

ALSATIAN ILLUMINATORA leaf from the Neubourg Missal, with historiated initial of Cistercian monk kneeling before the Virgin and Child, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [France, Alsace, Neubourg Abbey, c. 1450]

ALSATIAN ILLUMINATOR
A leaf from the Neubourg Missal, with historiated initial of Cistercian monk kneeling before the Virgin and Child, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [France, Alsace, Neubourg Abbey, c. 1450]