Western Manuscripts and Miniatures

Unusually large sheets with generous wide margins, one with a modern illumination and delicate border.
 
c. 346 × 265 mm. Two leaves, ruled faintly in brown ink for two columns of twenty-eight lines (justification 219 × 174 mm), written in a formal gothic bookhand in dark brown ink, rubrics in red, quaternions in red in top margin, two-line initials in burnished gold on red and blue grounds with white decorative penwork infill, ONE ILLUMINATED MINIATURE of five lines featuring the Nativity with the Virgin kneeling next to the Christ Child in a manger, half border outlined in red ink with scrolling acanthus leaves in blue and gold, floral sprays in red, blue, and green, and burnished gold bezants. The parchment is well-preserved, with vibrant colors and shimmering gold, margins show minor dust soiling.
 
Two folios from a now-dismembered Breviary, perhaps from the Loire Valley, although the absence of any original illustrative features makes localization problematic. The burnished gold initials on blue and red grounds with delicate white penwork closely resemble those in London, British Library, Harley MS 4413 (a Customary of Anjou and Maine, c. 1462–1480) probably produced in Angers and a Book of Hours formerly offered by Les Enluminures (TM 922) also likely from Angers. The incipit below the miniature of the Nativity “Respice Domine propitius sacra munera” typically recited at Lent is unrelated to the miniature. The second leaf contains portions of the Mass for the Octave of Christmas (January 1), including the Collect, Epistle, Gradual, Gospel, and associated prayers from the Temporale cycle. These texts would have been used during the celebration of the Divine Office.
 
These large clean parchment folios, preserving wide margins, are accompanied by a skillful five-line historiated initial with the Nativity, showing the Virgin kneeling before the Christ Child in a paneled interior with a richly diapered background added by a modern illuminator. The border composed of ivy leaves, on feathery scrollwork with strawberries and delicate blue and red flowers may perhaps be original, though the miniature with its anachronistic (for the period) quadrilobed frame certainly is not.
 
Provenance
(1) Dealer marks include on folio with no miniature contain French inscription “Vélin enluminé garaté[?] XVe siècle” and a number “1400.”
 
(2) Private Collection.
 
Parent manuscript and sister leaves
Additional text leaves from the same manuscript have appeared on the market as well as institutional holdings. One is preserved in the University of Arkansas Special Collections (MC1997). Others have surfaced through various dealers and auctions, including: PBA Galleries Auctions & Appraisers, Selections from the Professor George Starr Collection, 9 January 2025, lot 234; Dorotheum, Kunst, Antiquitäten und Schmuck, 14 April 2016, lot 195; Antiquarische Kostbarkeiten, Günsberg (eBay listing); and Discovery Bay Old Books, Brentwood, CA (Abebooks listing).
 
LITERATURE
Unpublished; related literature: Marie-Thérèse Gousset and Marie-Hélène Tesnière, “Manuscrits enluminés à Angers au XVe siècle,” in Angers au temps du roi René, ed. Michèle Lefrançois and Marc-Édouard Gautier, Angers, 1992, pp. 201–215; Marc-Édouard Gautier and François Avril (dirs.), Splendeur de l’enluminure: Le roi René et les livres, Arles, 2009; Béatrice de Chancel-Bardelot et al., Tours 1500, capitale des arts, Paris, 2012.
 
We thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Peter Bovenmyer for their assistance in preparing this sale.