Leaf from a Lectionary, in Latin, in archaising script and perhaps that of a student-scribe copying an old exemplar, decorated manuscript on parchment [Germany, early thirteenth century] Single leaf, with single column of 26 lines in an awkward and often confusing bookhand (see below), red rubrics and one-line initials, three large initial in red or blue, the third with scrolling dark blue penwork, contemporary folio no. 'CI', recovered from reuse in a binding and hence with stains, spots, and small holes (none affecting text), overall good condition, 284 by 226mm. Provenance:Acquired from European trade in 2019. The script:On initial inspection this leaf is baffling, but must be an attempt by a thirteenth-century scribe, perhaps a student-scribe, to laboriously copy outdated letterforms he found in a Romanesque exemplar (perhaps eleventh-or twelfth-century). The aspect is square and heavy, as one might expect from German script, but the initials are characteristically thirteenth century, as are the use of tiny decorative penstrokes inside some capitals. However, the use of tongued 'e' in capitals and at the end of words, among other forms, fits better in a Romanesque setting. The ductus throughout has a ponderous quality, and lacks the rapidity one expects with normal script (as in awkward forms of some letters, especially 'r', and has errors (such as the fishtailing added in error to the first 'i' in 'munditiis' in the last but one line of the recto, among others - correct if this was an ascender of a consonant, but not an 'i') that consolidate the impression that the scribe was working slowly, carefully copying letterforms that might have been strange to him. This lack of familiarity with older letterforms rules out an elderly scribe who had trained at the end of the twelfth century, and our scribe was more likely a youth in training, given an older exemplar to copy.
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Three leaves from a finely illuminated English Sacramentary, Use of Sarum, in Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment [England, c. 1220] Three single leaves, each with at least one single slender gold initial with coloured penwork picking out acanthus leaves in its infill and surround, smaller initial variegated in red and green with similar penwork, or simple red or green with contrasting penwork (some with baubles mounted within the thinnest parts of their strokes), red rubrics, important text ruled through in red, capitals touched in red, single column of 16 lines of a formal and visually appealing English early gothic hand, written above top line, one leaf (that numbered 'I') cut down at margins (most notable at top and inner with losses to edges of initials there), small flaking from gold in places, some cockling and small spots and stains, else good condition and on fine and supple parchment, complete leaves: 330 by 220mm., the cut down leaf: 300 by 200mm. Provenance:1. Written, decorated and finely illuminated in England in the early thirteenth century, doubtless for an important individual or ecclesiastical institution.2. Apparently already fragmentary by the early twentieth century: these three leaves most probably in a German collection together at that date (acquired in two batches in Germany over a decade apart, but with 'I', 'II' and 'III' at their upper outer corners in single hand of that date). Two further leaves appeared in Quaritch, cat. 1147, Bookhands of the Middle Ages V (1991), no. 55 (one marked up 'IV' in same hand: see photograph there).3. First two leaves here acquired in German trade in 2007 (leaves numbered 'II' and 'III'), the third in Hargesheimer Kunstauktionen, Düsseldorf, 19 September 2018, lot 2855 (numbered 'I'). Text:From an opulent Sarum Sacramentary, the precursor to the expanded Missal. These leaves containing Votive Masses from the Common of Saints followed by Votive Masses for the days of the week. Those in Quaritch were identified as probably for the week of Ash Wednesday, and the present leaves include part of masses for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and prayers for the Common of the Vigil of Many Martyrs, a Confessor, Many Confessors, and for Many Virgins. Only one Sarum Sacramentary was recorded by W.H. Frere (also thirteenth-century and modified for Exeter: Dean and Chapter Library, Exeter, MS 3510: see Bibliotheca Musico-Liturgica: A Descriptive Hand List of the Musical and Latin-Liturgical MSS., 1932, II:12, no. 597).
![Four leaves from a lavishly illuminated Psalter, in Latin, manuscript on parchment [northern England, c. 1260-70] Four leaves](https://cdn.globalauctionplatform.com/54a5f0e1-6657-49d3-8c4e-ad230108a26a/68e09cb7-0e29-49b7-9573-ad3a010ef8c0/468x382.jpg)
Four leaves from a lavishly illuminated Psalter, in Latin, manuscript on parchment [northern England, c. 1260-70] Four leaves, with single column of 21 lines in an elegant formal gothic bookhand (containing Psalm 43:11-45:4 and Psalm 55:2-57:7; Psalm 93: 13 (end)-94:10; Psalm 135:17-137:3), line-fillers in floral and geometric bands of red or blue ink, one-line initials in blue or liquid gold, two large initials in red or blue containing sprays of foliage on burnished gold grounds, two illuminated initials on blue and dark pink grounds heightened with white penwork, another illuminated initial on red and blue penwork grounds, slight chipping to gold in places, else outstanding condition, each approximately 230 by 165mm. Provenance:1. The parent manuscript was owned by Bruce Ferrini (1949-2010), and offered by him and Les Enluminures in their Important Illuminated Manuscripts (2000), no. 14, at $1,000,000 (described there as from northern France, and the last part of the reign of Philip August, i.e. c. 1200-1210). When it went unsold, Ferrini began to sell individual leaves (with leaves in a private collection by July 2002), and eventually at the end of his life cutting down individual leaves and selling them line-by-line as small strips. In 2016, the emergence of a leaf with an initial allowed the re-attribution of the work to northern England (see Sotheby's, 5 July 2016, lot 5), noting that the closest parallels were Psalters from northern England such as the Evesham, Oscott, York, and Rutland Psalters, all dating to c. 1250-c. 1270.2. The cataloguing of 2000 recorded that there was an inscription on its first flyleaf, reading 'Ex-libris de Maître avocat Aubéry[?] procureur-general, 1828'.3. Both acquired by Roger Martin from a private European collector." To "Acquired from private collectors in Europe in 2017 and North America in 2018.
Leaf from a pocket Bible of tiny proportions, in Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment [France, first half of the thirteenth century]Single leaf, with single column of 29 lines of a tiny university hand (with Deuteronomy 15:10-16:14), single versal number in margin in red or dark blue with blue paragraph mark, running titles in capitals in same, small spots, darkening to edges, else excellent condition on heavy parchment, 119 by 81mm. Acquired from a private European collector in 2018. Few medieval Bibles were copied in a single column of text (one is shown by C. de Hamel, The Book. A History of the Bible, 2001, p. 118; and in the study of 357 miniature Bibles by C. Ruzzier, 'The Miniaturisation of Bible Manuscripts in the Thirteenth-Century. A Comparative Study' in Form and Function in the Late Medieval Bible, 2013, pp. 105-25, she records only a few more than ten in this format), and the use of this rare format here is part of a conscious attempt to produce a tiny and portable copy of this fundamental text. It was most probably made as a special commission for an itinerant reader, perhaps a monastic preacher such as a Franciscan or Dominican who was not tied to a single ecclesiastical site.
![Leaf from a Sacramentary or Ritual, in Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment [probably France or Rhineland, tenth century]](https://cdn.globalauctionplatform.com/54a5f0e1-6657-49d3-8c4e-ad230108a26a/a4e82e18-5b27-4add-a30f-ad3600f1500a/468x382.jpg)
Leaf from a Sacramentary or Ritual, in Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment [probably France or Rhineland, tenth century] Single leaf, with single column of 33 lines on recto (but only 29 on verso) of a good and rounded late Carolingian minuscule, with strong 'st'-ligature and very occasional use of et-ligature integrally within words, rubrics mostly in ornamental red capitals, initials set off in margin in simple red, black penwork touched in green, plus one red with feathered ornamental penwork, and one in penwork design touched in pale yellow wash with feathered ascender, recovered from reuse as a pastedown in a later binding, and with tears to edges (without affect to text), small holes, folds, cockling and darkening to large part of reverse, overall fair and presentable condition, 300 by 225mm. Provenance:Purchased in European trade in 2016. Here the initial 'd' on the recto and 'V' on the verso, with their penwork compartments touched in yellow wash and feathered ascenders, descend from the style of illustration found first in northern European books such as the Gellasian Sacramentary (produced c. 790 in Meaux or Cambrai; see Trésors carolingians, 2007, no. 7), and then made popular across Europe by the dissemination of the Tours Bibles.
Leaf from an early copy of Gratian, Decretum, in Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment [France, first decades of thirteenth century (before c. 1230)] Single leaf, with double columns of 51 lines in a small and precise university hand (with II, causa 1, quaestio 1:cix-cxxiii), some biting curves and lateral compression, written above topline, red rubrics, small initials in red or blue with contrasting penwork (one terminating in spear-like sprigs of foliage), some marginalia, reused in later bindings and hence trimmed at foot (loss of about 8 lines there), spots, stains, folds and darkened edges, overall fair condition, 237 by 200mm.Acquired in UK trade in 2019.
![Collection of leaves from legal manuscripts, in Latin, on parchment [thirteenth to fourteenth century] Six leaves (including](https://cdn.globalauctionplatform.com/54a5f0e1-6657-49d3-8c4e-ad230108a26a/26a3a9ed-8cee-4564-bcc1-ad3600f22d26/468x382.jpg)
Collection of leaves from legal manuscripts, in Latin, on parchment [thirteenth to fourteenth century] Six leaves (including two bifolia), comprising: (a) leaf from a copy of Digest of Justinian, Corpus Juris Civilis, main text in double column of 52 lines of an early gothic bookhand, red rubrics, small initials in red or blue (those in margin tall and curved, and sometimes touched with contrasting penwork), two larger initials in pink or blue on contrasting grounds, enclosing foliage and with gold bezants mounted within their bodies and within the foliage, the second of these accompanied by a pink long-necked rabbit who stands on the initial below and looks back at the text, the entire leaf remarginated soon after it was written, with the original margins (and their gloss) cut away, and strips of parchment pasted to each side to allow space for the new gloss, small tears at edges and spots and stains, else good condition, Italy and then France, early thirteenth century with gloss added later, 435 by 253mm.; (b) bifolium from a copy of Digest of Justinian, Corpus Juris Civilis, main text in double column of 41 lines of a rounded gothic bookhand, capitals touched in yellow, paragraph-marks and one-line initials in red, larger slender initials in blue, each with a few red penstrokes, 2-line initials in gloss in alternate red or blue, the main text encased by smaller glossing script, discoloration at top of leaves from old water damage (this affecting only a few lines of gloss there), small tears to edges, small spots, else good condition, each leaf 434 by 270mm., southern France, first half of thirteenth century (parent codex reportedly dated 1238); (c) leaf from the Decretals of Gregory IX, or the 'Liber Extra', with double column of 40 lines of a rounded Italian gothic bookhand, blocks of gloss in margins in smaller script, occasional interlinear glosses, red rubrics, running titles in in red capitals at head of page, red or blue one-line initials, large initials in red or blue with contrasting penwork, one larger initial in pink enclosing coloured and gold foliage on blue grounds, one initial in pink touched with white penwork, enclosing a white faced animal on brightly burnished gold ground, the whole on blue grounds with coloured foliate extensions in margin terminating in coloured leaves with a gold bezant, grain pattern noticeable on one side, else in excellent condition, Italy, second half of fourteenth century, 448 by 280mm.; and (d) bifolium from a copy of William Durandus, Speculum judiciale, with double column of 82 lines, red rubrics and running titles, initials in red and blue, recovered from later reuse in a binding and hence with folds, stains and illegible sections, Italy, fourteenth century, total size 420 by 568mm. Item (a) here is one of the long-lost leaves from an imperfect codex of the Digest of Justinian sold in Sotheby's 10 July 2012, lot 22, identifiable by the mix of Italian script and French illumination, as well as the remargination of the entire codex soon after it was finished in order to equip it with a new, and probably more up to date, gloss. Other leaves of item (b) were offered by King Alfred's Notebook, Enchiridion 4 (2011), no. 2.
Leaf from Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, in Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment, with another leaf from a contemporary legal concordance [France, thirteenth century] Leaf from the Summa Theologiae, in double column of 57 lines of a tiny and rounded university script (with distinct. V, quaestio I, solutio III-quaestio II, articulus II), red or pale blue paragraph marks, running titles ('D/V') in capitals in same colours, original folio no. '32' at upper outer corner of recto, 3-line initials in red or blue with long whip-like penwork in contrasting colours, these sometimes terminating in clusters of three coloured dots, some 'nota bene' marks with 'clover-symbols' at head and long vertical penstrokes parallel to text columns with human faces picked out in penstrokes, some contemporary and near-contemporary marginalia indicating use, some spots and stains, a few tears at edges, else good condition, 342 by 226mm., France, thirteenth century; with another leaf from an apparent legal concordance, in three columns of approximately 85 lines of tiny script with numerous abbreviations, and cadels in uppermost lines, paragraphs marks in red or dark blue, running titles in vertical margin in blue and red capitals ('QII'), with one contemporary marginal addition 'Causa XI', discoloured in places with splits to edges and scuffs in places, overall fair condition, 323 by 236mm., France, thirteenth century The first leaf here is a fine example of a medieval university copy of perhaps the most influential theological work of the Middle Ages by one of its greatest scholars. Thomas Aquinas (1225-74) was a leading light of the scholastic movement, rediscovering, translating and synthesising the previously lost works of Aristotle with Christian thought. The present work is unfinished, but still acted as the fundamental compendium of the entire teachings of the Church intended to instruct students in medieval theology.
Leaf from an early copy of Arator, De Actibus Apostolorum, in Latin verse, with an apparently unrecorded Carolingian commentary, decorated manuscript on parchment [Germany, second half of tenth century] Single leaf, with single column of 23 lines in a short and square late Carolingian minuscule (last two lines of the heading for ch. 1, followed by the whole of ch. 1, excluding line 22 which has been cut away, the heading for ch. 2 and the first two lines of that chapter), using et-ligature integrally within words, a tall capital 'e' with a long tongue ending in a wedge-stroke and an uncial 'R' (compare hand of a contemporary Jerome: Munich, BSB., Clm 6313: Pracht auf Pergament, 2012, no. 21), near-contemporary interlinear gloss in a tiny hand, this also adding some punctuation, each line beginning with an initial offset in the margin, simple red initials, blind-ruled with this causing lifting of parchment along those lines, somewhat scuffed and discoloured, and with a small hole (without affect to text), trimmed at base with loss of a single line there, overall fair and presentable condition, 163 by 138mm. Provenance:Acquired in 2015 from Australian trade. Text:The sixth-century poet Arator rubbed shoulders with the greatest rulers and scholars of Early Medieval Italy. He served as a lawyer in the Gothic imperial capital of Ravenna, where he was treated with distinction by Emperor Theodoric the Goth (454-526), and protected by Cassiodorus (c. 484-c. 585), the intellectual titan of his age. He left the court about 544, and entered papal service as archdeacon of the Church. It was there he composed this work, a versification of the Acts of the Apostles that attempts to draw out the mystical and moral meanings of the texts. By papal order it was read aloud in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome, over a number of days, and in written form quickly spread across the empire.The earliest witnesses all come from a sudden bloom of interest in the ninth century, with A.P. McKinley listing twenty examples of that century, four of the ninth or tenth century and eight of the tenth century (Arator. The Codices, 1942, pp. 69-70, and perhaps also 'Membra disiecta of manuscripts of Arator', Speculum, 15, 1940, pp. 95-8). That focus of interest also produced four distinct commentaries in the ninth and tenth centuries (see 'Latin commentaries on Arator', Scriptorium, 6, 1952, pp. 151-156), some in interlinear form as here. The script of the commentary here is scuffed in places and wanting, but enough survives to note that it is not any of those catalogued by McKinley. It may well be another, as yet unstudied, Carolingian interlinear commentary.The text is rare on the market in any form, with the Schoenberg Database recording only two manuscript codices as ever having come to the open market, and none of those in the last century: (i) a fourteenth-century codex offered in Sotheby's, 2 March 1837, lot 974, probably the same reappearing in the same rooms, 20 June 1900, lot 7; (ii) a copy of c. 1450 sold by Evans, 6 February 1832, lot 150, reappearing in Thomas Thorpe's famous catalogue of 1200 manuscripts (1832), no. 63, and then again in Evans, 29 June 1839, lot 1369, to he bookseller Thomas Rodd, his cat. of 1841, no. 91; and to these should be added another fifteenth-century copy once owned by the infamous Guglielmo Libri and sold by him to the Ashburnham collection (no. 951 in the 1853 catalogue), and a late fifteenth-century German witness acquired privately by Thomas E. Marston and from him to the Beinecke Library, Yale, in 1964. Only one fragment is known to us, a mid-ninth century fragment in Quaritch, cat. 1036, Bookhands of the Middle Ages (1984), no. 123.
Three leaves from the gargantuan 'Bohun Bible', each with an illuminated initial, manuscript in Latin on parchment [England (East Anglia, perhaps Cambridge), c. 1340] Three vast leaves, with double column of 22 lines in a rounded English gothic bookhand (with Ecclesiasticus 30:17-31:2, Habakkuk 2:3-3:4 and Jeremiah 37:3-38:1) with significant lateral compression of lines, capitals touched in hairline penwork, running titles and versal numbers in blue and red, one large illuminated initial on each leaf, on bi-coloured grounds, and with fleshy foliate terminals emerging from head and foot, one of these accompanied by a gold paragraph mark on similarly coloured grounds, Early Modern folio nos. '232', '97' and '396' at upper outer corners of rectos (one with seventeenth-century English inscription at foot of second column: 'From the 4. verse of the 3d chapter of Habakuk is torne out & wanting'), small spots and stains, slightly cockled, occasional marks from old mounts, else good condition, each approximately 450 by 310mm. The parent volume of this leaf was most probably part of a four volume set, with the first volume perhaps now British Library MS. Royal I.E.IV, with a miniature of Jerome writing. On a stylistic basis links have been made between the surviving parts of these volumes and other manuscripts made for the Bohun family, earls of Hereford, whose main estates were in East Anglia (L. Sandler, Gothic Manuscripts, 1285-1385, 1986, no. 132). Other single leaves and collections of leaves in the Bodleian (MS. Bib. Lat.b.4) include ex libris marks of three Early Modern Cheshire families, and these have led to connections being made to the Benedictine Priory of St. Radegund's, Cambridge (suppressed in 1496 to establish Jesus College), and most recently the Carmelite Friary in Chester. The surviving leaves are listed by C. de Hamel in Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in New Zealand Collections, 1989, pp. 93-95 (including the first leaf here, as no. 97, in the list there), and in an updated form extensively discussing their provenance by the same author in 'The Bohun Bible Leaves', in Script & Print, Bulletin of the Bibliographical Society of Australia & New Zealand, 32 (2008), pp. 49-63. It was dispersed by Winifred Myers (1909-1985) of Bond Street, London, and the Habakkuk leaf here is accompanied by a cutting from a catalogue of hers of 1927. Acquired by Roger Martin from a private UK collector in 2007 (and before that Sotheby's, 23 June 1987, lot 17); from a private US collector in 2012; and in the US trade in 2014.
Two leaves from a richly illuminated Breviary, in Latin with French rubrics, manuscript on parchment [France (Paris), second half of fourteenth century] Two separate leaves, each with double column of 36 lines in a fine gothic hand, with notable lateral compression, capitals with delicate hairline penwork, red rubrics, contemporary foliation ('xx iiii': text from end of the Hour of None and the beginning of the Hour of Vespers to be said on the Feast of Corpus Christi; and 'xx iiii xix': text from end of the Hour of Second Vespers followed by the beginning of the Hour of Lauds to be said on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary) in red at centre of top of rectos, one-line initial in gold or blue with contrasting penwork, with geometric line-fillers in same, 2-line initials in blue or pale pink heightened with white penwork, enclosing sprigs of coloured foliage on burnished gold grounds, each leaf with one very large initial, one enclosing densely curled coloured foliage on gold grounds, the other with a grinning red face with foliage emerging from its mouth and ears (probably meant to be a lion, compare the decoration of another contemporary French Book of Hours, offered in our rooms, 6 December 2017, lot 61), full decorated borders (including inner margins) of thin gold and coloured bars with snarling dragons at head of pages, geometric panels at feet, and sprays of foliage, text borders in same on innermost sides of both columns on reverses of both leaves, modern pencil foliation '170' on one leaf, slightly trimmed at edges with small losses from border decoration, small smudges and spots, else excellent condition, each leaf 237 by 173mm. Provenance:1. The parent manuscript of this glittering Breviary was written and illuminated in Paris in the second half of the fourteenth century, most probably for a Franciscan house dedicated to St. Aegidius/Gilles (with references on some leaves to that saint as 'our patron').2. It was most probably initially dispersed in the late 1920s or early 1930s, with leaves first appearing in Quaritch's cat. for 1931, nos. 127 and 128 (each item advertising 'a few leaves' from the manuscript). Other leaves can be found in a bequest by Lord Cholmondeley of 2 leaves to the Society for Italic Handwriting; a UK private collection, bought from Quaritch in 1950 (these with the address to St. Aegidius as 'our patron' in prime from the office of that saint; Sotheby's, 5 April 1976, part of lot 601, the teaching collection of A.N.L. Munby, illustrated in frontispiece image there; Sotheby's, 19 June 1979, lot 3 (this described later in Sotheby's December 1994, as then in a Swiss collection); Christie's, New York, September 1981, lot 16; Sotheby's, 8 December 1981, lot 3; Quaritch, cat. 1056, Bookhands of the Middle Ages II (1985), no. 69; Sotheby's, 24 June 1986, lot 50; Sotheby's, 22 June 1988, lot 11; and Maggs Bros., Bulletin 10 (June 1979), that now Tokyo, Keio University Library.3. The first of the present leaves acquired from North American trade in 2002, who had in turn acquired it from a private collector in San Francisco; the second leaf here was acquired in McTear's 1842 Auctions, Glasgow, 19 July 2019, lot 1684.
Leaf from a copy of Innocent IV, Apparatus in Quinque Libros Decretalium, in Latin, manuscript on parchment, with another contemporary English leaf from a text on singing [England, fourteenth century] Two leaves: Innocent IV, Apparatus, with double column of 57 lines in a small and fine university hand (with book I, rubric III, capit. XX:8-capit. XXI:1-7), capitals marked with pendrawn paragraph marks touched in red, other paragraph marks in dark blue and red, other capitals in margin touched in red, running titles 'L/I' in red capitals at head of each page, reused as pastedown in later binding and so trimmed at edges, small holes, scuffed and illegible in places on reverse, tears to edges, else fair and presentable condition, 300 by 215mm.; plus a contemporary English leaf from a text on singing (not traceable in 'In Principio' database) with double column of 59 lines, running title 'L/II' in red and dark blue capitals, 281 by 207mm.Acquired in UK and European trade in 2019.For discussion of the first text here, see lot 75
![Boethius, De Consolatione Philosophiae, in Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment [Italy, first half of fourteenth century]](https://cdn.globalauctionplatform.com/54a5f0e1-6657-49d3-8c4e-ad230108a26a/915d589c-068b-4da1-a2c0-ad3600f2d37f/468x382.jpg)
Boethius, De Consolatione Philosophiae, in Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment [Italy, first half of fourteenth century] Single leaf, with main text in single column of 32 lines of a rounded angular gothic bookhand (with text from book II), double column used for Latin verse, capitals touched with hairline penwork, red rubrics and paragraph marks, large red initials with curling lappets from their extremities ending in red droplets, recovered from reuse as a limp parchment binding, and hence with reverse much rubbed, folds, stains and damage to edges of leaves, inscription in late sixteenth- or seventeenth-century Italian from that reuse at foot, overall fair and presentable condition, 260 by 180mm. Acquired from a private European collector in 2006. This leaf is probably all that remains of a splendid copy of the fundamental philosophical text of the Middle Ages, written at the dawn of the Middle Ages while its author, Boethius (c. 477-524) was in prison, accused of plotting against the barbarian masters of Rome. This work is an attempt to resolve the horror of what has happened to him with platonic stoicism and Christian philosophy, and formed the framework for much of the philosophical thought of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Leaf from an early Choirbook, with a large decorated initial incorporating a dragon, in Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment [Italy, thirteenth century] Single large leaf, with single column of 11 lines in an early gothic bookhand, instructions in smaller hand, with music on a 4-line red stave, capitals and significant letters touched in red, red rubrics, small initials in either penwork strokes touched in red or red or blue angular strokes with penwork in opposite colour, one large initial 'D' (opening 'Deus omnium exauditor ...', the first response of the first nocturn of Matins for the second Sunday after Pentecost), in vibrant orange with white penwork, enclosing sprays of fawn, blue and orange acanthus leaves all exploding out from a central red flowerhead, the ascender of the letter formed from a blue and red dragon with a frilly 'Mohican'-like crest atop its head, whose trailing tail delicately curls around the upper part pf the initial, the whole initial on blue grounds heightened with white crosses, and within a fawn frame, slight shine through in places, some cockling, small scuffs, spots and stains, else in presentable condition, 440 by 305mm.Acquired from a private North American collector in 2019.
Leaf from an Antiphonal, most probably of Franciscan Use, with a large illuminated initial, in Latin, manuscript on parchment [Italy (most probably Central, or perhaps Bologna), late thirteenth century] Single large leaf, with single column of 5 lines of a large and rounded liturgical bookhand, with music on a 4-line red stave (rastrum 45mm.), instructions to painter who added ornamental capitals in tiny hairline script in border, catchwords within penwork frame at foot of verso, capitals encased with elaborate penwork, rubrics in red, opening letters after the large initial in tall red or blue capitals with penwork, one very large initial 'F' (opening 'Francisci pia plantua ...', the first response after the first lection in the first nocturn of Matins for the Feast of St. Clare) in grey-white acanthus leaves with blue and red leaves (the uppermost trailing off into a long curling penstroke surmounted by a large gold bezant), the cross bar and infill of the letter with geometric mirrored foliage enclosing burnished gold panels on dark blue grounds, the whole initial on burnished gold (heightened with curling white penwork) and blue grounds to its left, an apparent folio no. '56' twice in middle of vertical border of recto in seventeenth- or eighteenth-century hand, some light flaking from ink in places, small scuffs to acanthus leaves in places, a fold or two, small spots and stains, else in good and bright condition, 600 by 415mm. As the office here is that of the Feast of Saint Clare, the parent volume was most probably made for use in a Franciscan community. The geometric work within the initial and the use of white penwork overlaid on the gold grounds points to Central Italian and Bolognese work of the late thirteenth century (see the antiphonal of similar age reproduced in M.M. Manion and V.F. Vines, Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts in Australian Collections, 1984, no. 5, pp. 39-40 and fig. 27). The leaf here was acquired from a private European collector in 2018.
Leaf from a Promissione Ducale, the oath sworn by the doge of Venice, with two historiated initials, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment [Italy (probably Venice), second half of fourteenth century, with fifteenth-century additions] Single large leaf, with double column of 24 lines of a rounded Italian gothic bookhand, capitals with ornamental penstrokes, red rubrics, two large historiated initials: (i) 'S' (opening 'Si autem ad audientiam ...', here opening ch. 90) in pink heightened with white penwork, on blue grounds with trailing white penwork, the whole on brightly burnished gold grounds, enclosing a man and a woman as he attempts to molest her (see below), extensions into the margins formed of coloured acanthus leaves with large gold fruit and bezants; (ii) 'E' (opening 'Et si aliquis ...', here opening ch. 91) as before with a woman inside the initial talking to a man who stands outside of it and appears to be trying to walk away (see below), this with more elaborate acanthus leaves in the central and upper margins again with gold fruit and bezants, some fifteenth- and sixteenth-century marginalia, small chipping to gold in places on first initial, second more seriously affected by flaking from paint of figures, two rectangular discoloured areas at outer edge from last mounting, small spots and stains, else in fair and presentable condition, 327 by 244mm. Provenance:1. Produced as a luxurious copy of the text in the fourteenth century, apparently with a historiated initial for every chapter, most probably for the doge himself who swore this oath on coming to office. The additions dated 1413 were added later. The text of these documents was progressively added to after the beginning of their use in the late twelfth century, with each new addition adding to the chapter numbers, and disturbing many earlier chapter numbers from their earlier content. The chapter numbers here place this significantly before the copy which survives for Doge Francesco Foscari (reigned 1423-1457), which has another seven chapters inserted before the text of our ch. 90.2. Gonnelli Casa d'Arte, Florence, 11 December 2015, lot 135, acquired at that auction by Roger Martin and exported in early 2016 to the United Kingdom with an export license from the Italian authorities.Illumination:The subjects of these initials are entirely secular and of great rarity. The first shows a richly dressed man as he attempts to grab a woman, perhaps intimately, as she catches his arm to push it away. This corresponds to the text on the punishment of men who have molested or defiled married women or virgins. The second shows a woman inside the initial talking to a man who stands outside of it as he appears to be trying to walk away, and corresponds to the text on the woman who lives in the house of a man who has extracted a true confession from her of causing fornication.The illuminator was a follower of two of the leading artists of fourteenth-century Bologna, the 1346 Master (fl. 1340-50) and Nicolò di Giacomo da Bologna (fl. 1349-1403), both of whom worked extensively on illuminating statutes and legal codices (see Illuminating the Law, 2001, nos. 20-22; and note the intimate depiction of a couple kissing in an initial on a leaf from a copy of Johannes Andreae, Novella, discussing marriage, that now National Gallery of Art, Washington DC., MS. B-22225). A Venetian doge is unlikely to have commissioned a volume from as far away as Bologna, and the parent codex may have been painted in Venice by an artist who trained in Bologna before practising there.
Collection of leaves from early French Books of Hours, in Latin, illuminated manuscripts on parchment [first half of fifteenth century] Eleven leaves, comprising: (1) three leaves from a Book of Hours, Use of Coutances, Normandy, all with single column of 15 lines, red rubrics, one-line initials in gold on blue and pink grounds, line-fillers in same, one large initial on each page in same enclosing coloured foliage on gold grounds, one gold and coloured bar down left-hand side of text column with each initial, some of these ending with sprays of coloured acanthus leaves and coloured flowers with spiky stamens, a half-length woman in red robes and a pink hood, a kneeling devotee in blue robes and a red hat pointing at the text, a blue human face with a pointed beard, a large green and red frilled dragon with a long-billed bird's head and a woody thorn with wings and feet, these with floral shoots emerging from them terminating in coloured and gold leaves, some small scuffs to gold in places, slight shine-through from decoration in places, a few spots and stains, overall good and clean condition, each approximately 162 by 112mm., Normandy, c. 1420; (2) two bifolia (4 leaves) from a Book of Hours, each leaf with single column of 14 lines, red rubrics, one-line initials in gold on blue and pink grounds, line-fillers in same, larger initials in same colours enclosing foliage on gold grounds, full borders of gold and coloured text bars with sprigs of coloured foliage and three geometric twist at foot or sides of text bars, five coloured dragons snapping at gold bezants, small spots and stains (especially at outer edges), margins slightly cockled, overall excellent condition, 183 by 134mm., France, c. 1400-20; (3) leaf from a Book of Hours, single column of 18 lines, capitals touched in yellow, red rubrics, one- to 3-line initials in blue or pink enclosing coloured baubles or foliage on gold grounds, line-fillers in same, full illuminated border of gold woody stems branching into rinceaux foliage terminating in coloured flowerheads and gold leaves, excellent condition, 211 by 156mm., France (Paris), c. 1420; (4) two leaves from a Book of Hours, each with single column of 11 lines, one-line initials in gold on pink and blue, line-fillers in same, larger initials in same colours enclosing foliage on gold grounds, full borders of gold and coloured texts bars, acanthus-leaf sprays and rinceaux foliage terminating in coloured flower-heads and gold leaves, small spots, else excellent condition, 201 by 144mm., France, c. 1440; (5) Calendar leaf for November, from a Book of Hours, entries in French in gold, blue and pink, one-line initials in gold on pink and blue grounds, 'KL' initial in same colours enclosing coloured foliage on gold grounds, thin gold and coloured bars on three sides of the text with full borders of single-line rinceaux foliage with gold leaves and seedpods, small stains and slight cockling at edges, else good condition, 182 by 137mm., France, c. 1400-20Item (1) here was already dispersed in the 1950s in North America, with two of the three leaves here traceable back to Books Inc, of San Francisco in April 1953. Item (3) here is from an exquisitely illuminated but imperfect Book of Hours, sold in Sotheby's, 5 December 1995, lot 43.
St. Catherine of Siena, as Christ and a host of saints appears to her, and offers her a bejewelled wedding ring, miniature on a leaf from a copy of the French translation of the Legenda Maior of Raymond of Capua, this leaf from a illuminated manuscript on parchment made for the grand Burgundian patron, Louis de Gruuthuse [French Flanders (doubtless Bruges), c. 1475] Single leaf, with half page gold framed miniature attributed to the Master of Margaret of York or his workshop (see below), above a single pale pink initial containing coloured foliage, and 6 lines of elegant Burgundian lettre bâtarde by a professional scribe as yet unidentified but close to that of Colard Mansion, all within gold text frame and full border of acanthus leaves and other foliage, reverse with single word from previous chapter ('personnes': see below) at head, followed by line-filler in gold, blue and pink, above 5 lines of rubric opening with large and fine calligraphic initial (with human face poking out it's tongue picked out in brown ink at its edge), some flaking and scuffing to gold, brown stains to upper margin, else fine condition, 276 by 197mm. This leaf has a sublime provenance from Louis de Gruuthuse, the greatest art patron of the Burgundian Netherlands aside from the ducal family, to two kings of France, including François I, the father of the French Renaissance Provenance:1. This is a long-lost leaf from BnF MS. fr. 1048 (olim Regius 7336; on the manuscript see I. Hans-Collas & P. Schandel, Manuscrits enluminés des anciens Pays-Bas méridionaux. I. Manuscrits de Louis de Bruges, Paris, 2009, no. 36, pp. 144-45), a copy of the anonymous Légende de la Vie de Sainte Catherine de Sienne, made for Louis de Gruuthuse (1422-92; also known as Louis de Bruges), courtier to Philip the Good and the wealthiest and most important art patron in the Burgundian Low Countries outside the reigning ducal family. The loss of leaves from the parent volume removed the frontispiece with his armorial devices, but an offset of them can be seen on fol. 4v there. The present leaf contains the last word of book I, ch. 7, and the opening of book II, ch. 1, and once sat before fol. 35 in the parent manuscript (see the gallica.bnf.fr website for a black-and-white facsimile).2. Louis XII (1462-1515, king of France from 1498), who was given the entire Gruuthuse library c. 1500, most probably by Jean V de Gruuthuse, the son and heir of Louis de Gruuthuse, as well as Louis XII's chamberlain. 3. François I (1494-1547, king of France from 1515), the father of the Renaissance in France and one of that nation's most important bibliophiles. He had the Gruuthuse arms overpainted in many of the volumes from that library and moved them along with the rest of the royal library into the treasury of the château of Blois (note the parent manuscript has the sixteenth-century note 'Bloys' at the head of its first original flyleaf above a description of its contents, doubtless from this move). There the royal chaplain, Guillaume Petit, recorded them in an inventory of 1518, and again in 1544, with the present leaf part of no. 1510, described as 'Ung autre livre, en parchemyn, intitule: Vye de saincte Catherine de Sennes; couvert de veloux incarnat' (see H. Omont, Anciens inventaires et catalogues de la Bibliothèque nationale, I, 1908, p. 235). These then passed to the royal library in Fontainebleau, and after the Revolution and foundation of the First Republic in 1792 to the Bibliothèque nationale. Depredations were made early into the Gruuthuse sections of the royal library, and in fact only 155 volumes of the 180 extant from this library now remain in the Bibliothèque nationale. All bar one of the leaves with miniatures were abstracted from the volume in question here before 1831, when the first comprehensive inventories of the Bibliothèque nationale were made (where the parent manuscript is no. 1683: see Omont, Anciens inventaires, p. 344). Where such miniatures were on a recto, a French hand of the eighteenth century added the preceding rubric in the parent volume (this is the case with the leaf in Dartmouth College and the leaf now in a European private collection), indicating that these leaves were removed while the collection was in Blois, and probably before the French Revolution.4. Three leaves from the parent manuscript (most probably including this one) appeared for sale in a Philip C. Duschnes catalogue of May 1970, with one of these reappearing in Sotheby's, 21 June 1994, lot 33 (but with the parent manuscript misidentified, and thus Gruuthuse provenance obscured), and another now in an important European private collection. Two further leaves with miniatures are now in Dartmouth College Library, Hanover, North Hampshire, USA (Rauner Library, 470940, gift of Madelyn C. Hickmott [1897-1988], both reproduced online).5. The present leaf owned by a private North American collector, their sale in Cowen's Auctions of Cincinnati, in March 2013, lot 51; acquired there by Roger Martin.Text: Raymond of Capua (c. 1330-99) served as spiritual director and confessor to St. Catherine of Siena, and thus his account is of paramount importance as an eye-witness record of her life. After her death, he undertook the restoration of the Dominican Order, and was named its second founder. This translation was made by an anonymous Dominican friar, sometime immediately after the canonisation of St. Catherine of Sienna in 1461. It had a short and closely focussed distribution as a text, and may well have been produced under the patronage of the Burgundian court as all five extant witnesses are associated with members of that court or their highest followers. See J.F. Hamburger & G. Signori, 'The Making of a Saint: Catherine of Siena, Thomas Caffarini, and the Others', in Catherine of Siena: The Creation of a Cult, 2013, pp. 8-10. Artist and patron: The identification of the artist as the Master of Margaret of York or a member of his workshop was made by the authors of the Manuscrits de Louis de Bruges volume published in 2009 (working from the single miniature remaining in BnF. fr. 1048 and those in Dartmouth College). The artist was active in Bruges from about 1470 to 1480, and takes his name from a book produced for Margaret of York, wife of Charles the Bold (now Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, nos. 9305-06). However, his surviving works indicate that his principal patron was Louis de Gruuthuse, with some fifteen extant works produced for Louis' apparent personal reading (mostly French translations of Latin works, as here). See S. McKendrick & T. Kren, Illuminating the Renaissance, 2003, p. 217-18.Items from this illustrious library, quintessentially of the late Middle Ages and made to inspire secular piety and demonstrate bourgeois opulence in equal measure, are of enormous rarity on the market. The last significant codex was that of a manuscript from Chatsworth, containing the Deeds of Sir Gillion de Trazegnies, and dated 1464, sold at Sotheby's, 5 December 2012, to the Getty Museum, for £3,849,250. Otherwise a somewhat battered copy of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, with three miniatures, from the final remnant of the Thomas Phillipps collection, appeared at Christie's, 7 June 2006, lot 19, and realised £45,600. Perhaps the closest comparables to that here are a series of three grisaille miniatures produced by the Burgundian artist Lievan van Lathem for a grand manuscript made for Duke Philip the Good, Louis de Gruuthuse's ...(for full text, see catalogue PDF).
A Sèvres cup and saucer (gobelet 'cannelé' et soucoupe), dated 1764Of the first size, of fluted shape, painted by Antoine-Louis Fontelliau with the 'hop-trellis' pattern of vertical foliate garlands alternating with horizontal red lines encircled by gilt S-scrolls, between blue-ground bands, the cup: 7.6cm high, the saucer: 13.9cm diam., interlaced LL monograms in blue enclosing date letter L, painter's mark for Fontelliau and incised marks (cup restored) (2)Footnotes:Provenance:Property from the Collection of Dr. Johannes Ralph LafrenzThe saucer model and a lobed teabowl shape were both introduced at the factory as early as 1753, but the cup does not appear until later with known examples dating to 1764, such as the present lot (Rosalind Savill, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain (1988), Vol II, pp.560f, no. C373). The shape and decoration were later copied at Worcester, an example of which can be seen in the collection of the V&A, London (414:657/&A-1885).For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Two Meissen figural salts, circa 1765, one later-decoratedThe first wearing a purple-striped headscarf and puce-lined yellow skirt decorated with flowers, standing by a basket reserved with quatrelobe panels painted with flowers, the grassy base applied with leaves and flowers; the second, later decorated, wearing a feather headdress and skirt, the basket painted with bird vignettes within gilt borders, the base applied with leaves and flowers and embellished in gilding, 17cm high, crossed swords marks with dot in underglaze-blue (some restoration to both) (2)Footnotes:Provenance:Sir Walter Rockcliffe Farquhar, 3rd Bart (1810-1900), Polesden Lacey;Thence by descent to the current ownerFor further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
A Sèvres blue-ground cup and saucer (gobelet 'litron' et soucoupe), dated 1775Of the first size, each painted by J.-F. Micaud (père) with a gilt-edged medallion enclosing a flower still life on a table, the saucer with flowers in a Sèvres vase, one surrounded by a berried laurel wreath, the other with a rose garland, the blue ground decorated with elaborate gilt scrollwork borders, the cup with gilt scrollwork handle, the cup: 7.7cm high, the saucer: 15cm diam., interlaced LL monograms enclosing date letter x, painter's marks x for Micaud and gilder's marks B for J.-P. Boulanger, incised marks o and f (typical minor wear to enamels on saucer)For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
A Sèvres tea service decorated en briques d'or, circa 1770Painted with a wide band of gilt tooled brickwork between bands of gilt laurel wreaths on a blue pointillist ground, comprising a teapot and cover (théière 'calabre'), a slop bowl (jatte 'Hebert'), a sugar bowl and cover (pot à sucre 'Bouret'), a milk jug on three legs (pot à lait à trois pieds), 13 cups and 12 saucers, (gobelet 'Bouillard' et soucoupe), the teapot: 13.8cm high interlaced LL monograms, some pieces with incised marks (31)Footnotes:Provenance:Property from the Collection of Dr. Johannes Ralph LafrenzA gobelet litron with alternating red and gilt brickwork is in the Royal Collection (see G. de Bellaigue, French Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, 2009, cat. no. 196, p. 792f.) The author notes that Svend Eriksen, writing about a similar gobelet litron with solid gilt bricks, dated 1770 at Woburn Abbey, points out that the first reference in the Sèvres factory sales' ledgers to this type of decoration dates from 1769. Geoffrey de Bellaigue however mentions a cup and saucer with gilt brick decoration dated 1767, which sold at Christie's, New York, 23 May 1995, lot 36. The author further underlines the popularity of the design by pointing out that Henry-Léonard-Jean-Baptiste Bertin, the minister responsible for the Sèvres manufactury, ordered a déjeuner à briques d'or in 1769 (op. cit. pp. 793).For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Fourteen Sèvres plates from the 'Service de Dessert Marly Rouge' for the Emperor Napoleon, circa 1809En-suite with the previous lot, each with a white cavetto, the gilt-edged, red-ground rim with a border of formal gilt foliage within two gilt lines, 23.7cm diam., 'M.Imp.le/ de Sevres/ 1809' stencilled in iron-red, gilt marks and various incised marks (14)Footnotes:Provenance: Delivered to the Emperor Napoleon at the Palais de Fontainebleau on 7th, 8th and 18th October 1809;Listed among the property taken by the Emperor to Elba in April 1814;Given in 1829 to Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte (1805-1870) by his father, the Emperor's youngest brother, Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia between 1807-13, probably on the occasion of the former's wedding to Susan May Williams (1812-81) in 1829; Thence given in 1875 to Charles Joseph Bonaparte (1851-1921) and his wife Ellen Channing-Day (1852-1924) on the occasion of their wedding; thence given to Ellen Bonaparte's godson, Robert Wood Williams, Sr. (1890-1984) and Helen Macqueen Gibbs Williams, probably on the occasion of their wedding in 1924;Thence by descent to the present ownerAnother set of 12 plates with butterflies with the same provenance was sold in these rooms, 5 July 2018, lot 223.For a discussion of the dessert service 'fond rouge, papillons et fleurs', commissioned for Compiègne but delivered in October 1809 to Fontainebleau, shortly before the Emperor's arrival there on 26th October for a stay of a little over two weeks, see Camille Le Prince, Napoléon Ier & la Manufacture de Sèvres (2016), p. 72, and p. 278 for the entry of 11 October 1809 in the Magasin de Vente, including the composition of the service, which had a total value of 18,580 francs. Other table and coffee services were delivered to Fontainebleau at the same time, including a service with beau bleu ground that was also originally intended for Compiègne (S. Wittwer, Raffinesse & Eleganz (2007), cat. no. 64). In the imperial hierarchy, Fontainebleau ranked second among the country estates, just after Saint Cloud, and required furnishings commensurate with its importance (Le Prince, p. 72).In the archive transcription these plates with red borders and gilding but without butterflies are listed as '36 assiettes avec marly rouge pour assiettes montées'. There seems to be a group of services with 'asiettes montées' or 'pour monter', or 'assiettes avec bordure seule'. The first mention of these plates with decorated borders for use in mounting appears to be the 'Service à Guirlande de Fleurs sur Fond d'Or', entered in the magazin de vente 26 October 1808.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
A Vincennes blue-ground cup and saucer (gobelet 'Bouillard' et soucoupe), dated 1754Of the first size, the dark bleu-lapis ground reserved with gilt foliate and floral cartouches enclosing sprays of polychrome flowers, gilt dentil borders to the rims, the cup: 6.1cm high, the saucer: 13.3cm diam., interlaced LL monograms to both, date letter A to saucer, unidentified painter's marks B to both and painter's marks * for Mme Caton, incised 2 and N (cup restored) (2)Footnotes:Provenance:Property from the Collection of Dr. Johannes Ralph LafrenzFor further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
A pair of Meissen large groups of Amphitrite's Triumphal Procession and Neptune and Thetis, late 19th centuryAfter the models by J.J. Kaendler of 1772-1773, each in three parts, the first depicting Neptune holding his triton and a wreath standing by an anchor in his shell chariot with Thetis behind him, attended by Nereids and Tritons and bridled hippocampi, all on a base of waves on a lobed base moulded with neo-classical borders; the second depicting the sea goddess Amphitrite seated in triumph in her chariot pulled by dolphins, holding a sceptre and attended by cupids with shells, coral and a wreath overhead and further Nereids and Tritons, all on dense waves applied with shells and a tortoise on a lobed base with moulded neo-classical borders, Neptune: 47.5cm high, 63cm across; Amphitrite: 49cm high; 57cm across, each piece with crossed swords mark in blue or underglaze-blue, impressed numerals, incised 'No. 1' and 'No. 2', respectively (some restoration and losses) (6)Footnotes:Provenance:A Private Swiss Collection of 19th century MeissenModelled by Kaendler in November 1772 (Amphitrite) and February 1773 (Neptune) as part of the 'Great Russian Order' intended for the decoration of a cabinet in the Pavilion neat the Bobsleigh Hills in the park of Oranienbaum Palace; both Amphitrite and Thetis were intended to allude to the Czarina Catherine the Great. See U. Pietsch (ed.), Meissen for the Czars (2004), pp. 103-125, for a discussion of the gift for the Czarina Catherine the Great.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Two gilt-metal-mounted figures of nodding Chinese marching boys, circa 1750Modelled by J.J. Kaendler und F.E. Meyer, each wearing a leaf hat on the articulated nodding head resting on a gilt-metal collar, the first wearing a puce flower-decorated short cape over a yellow tunic and red shoes, the second with a green cape and white tunic with gilt and purple flowers, the bases applied with leaves and flowers, on later gilt-metal mounts raised on three scroll feet, 27.5cm high, crossed swords marks in underglaze-blue to rear of bases, the first with 2 in black (restoration to hats and heads, green cape restored, the other figure with right thumb restored, small chips to flowers and leaves on bases (2)Footnotes:Provenance:By repute, the Dukes of Württemberg;Private Collection, Germany (sold Christie's London, 6 Nov 2008, lot 56);The Rosa Alba Collection of Meissen PorcelainThis lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Three Du Paquier saucers, circa 1725-1730One painted in Schwarzlot with two horsemen in combat, the second painted in grey monochrome with a landscape scene of figures in front of building and a bridge, the third painted in polychrome colours with a chinoiserie terrace and hedge and a large cockerel, 12-13.8cm diam. (small chip to rim on third) (3)Footnotes:Provenance:Phillips London, 16 February 1977, lot 274 (the second saucer);Anon. sale, Phillips London, 12 March 1997, lot 116 (the third saucer);Eveline Newgas Collection, London (acquired in the above sales)This style of monochrome decoration on the first saucer can also be found on Meissen teabowls and saucers made in the 1730s, suggesting that Du Paquier painters decorated porcelain for their own benefit as Hausmaler; see M. Chilton/C. Lehner-Jobst, Fired by Passion (2009), I, ill. 6:9.The naive style of monochrome landscape decoration on the second saucer is usually considered to date from the early years of the Du Paquier manufactory, but this combination of black monochrome landscape vignette with an iron-red or purple characteristic Du Paquier border to the rim can also be found on Meissen porcelain of the 1730s with impressed Dreher's marks that are presumed to be the work of Viennese Hausmaler, perhaps Du Paquier painters working for themselves (M. Chilton/C. Lehner-Jobst (eds.), Fired by Passion (2009), I, pp. 508-509.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
A later-decorated Sèvres déjeuner, the porcelain circa 1780, the decoration probably English, first half 19th centuryDecorated with a pink-ground reserved with rural landscape scenes of farmers and peasants engaged at various pursuits, gilt borders to the rims, comprising: a tray (plateau 'losange'), a teapot and cover (théière 'Calabre'), a sugar bowl and cover (pot à sucre 'Calabre'), a milk jug (pot à lait 'à trois pieds'), a cup and saucer, the tray: 35.2cm across handles, interlaced LL monograms enclosing date letter ee in blue, B.S. in blue and incised marks (some wear) (8)For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
A Sèvres cup and saucer (gobelet 'bouillard' et soucoupe), dated 1767Of the first size, decorated by Guillaume Noël, with a green-ground heightened in gilding reserved with oval panels enclosing spiralling flower garlands, the cup: 6.3cm high, the saucer: 14cm diam., interlaced LL monogram enclosing date letter O, painter's mark for Noël, incised Ib and S (minor rubbing to saucer) (2)Footnotes:Provenance:Property of a Lady, Christie's London, 6 March 1995, lot 101Anon. sale, Christie's New York, 17-18 November 1999, lot 250;Sèvres Porcelain from an International Private CollectionThis lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
A set of twenty Sèvres hard-paste dessert plates from the 'Service Fond Bleu Figures en Brun', circa 1808Each painted by Pierre-André Le Guay, with a classical figure painted in brown and heightened in gilding in imitation of bronze, on a faux agate ground, the blue-ground rim with a formal border of gilt anthemia and lotus, 23.5cm diam., each with traces of factory marks, various incised marks (20)Footnotes:Provenance:With Gerald Sattin, London, in 1988 (some);With Seidenberg Antiques, New York (the remainder);Sèvres Porcelain from an International Private CollectionOne plate depicts an enthroned figure inscribing a tablet 'Empire Francais'.See Camille Leprince, Napoléon Ier & la Manufacture de Sèvres (2016), no. 114, and Aileen Dawson, French Porcelain in the British Museum (1994), pp. 215-217, no. 179, for a full discussion of the service. Another plate is in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Aileen Dawson (1994), no. 179. Other plates from the service are in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (Accession no. 1987.224) and The Art Institute of Chicago (Gift of Alfred Duane Pell, 1904.225).The service first appears in the sale records in 1806 under the name 'service Leguay', after the artist Le Guay, who was paid 19 francs and 40 centimes for 'figures en brun rehaussés d'or' on six plates from August-September 1806. It arrived at the factory factory saleroom on 8 March 1808, where it was entered into the sale register as 'Service de dessert sur fond beau bleu figures en brun rehaussées en or sur fond caillouté'. The figures have been identified as having been after engravings by Alexandre-Evariste Fragonard (1780-1850), who later worked at the factory between 1812 and 1835. It is unknown who the service was originally intended for and it ended up staying on the factory shelves until the auction between December 1826 and January 1827.A plate from the service sold at Christie's New York, 14 June 2017, lot 175, and four further plates were sold at Sotheby's London, 22 January 2020, lot 260.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
A Sèvres blue-ground écuelle, stand and cover (écuelle nouvelle forme et plateau), circa 1775Of the first size, painted by Jacques Fontaine, the beau bleu ground reserved with curved oval cartouches enclosing children engaged at various pursuits in pastoral landscapes, wide gilt bands with foliate scrollwork to the rims, applied with gilt scrolling foliate handles, the cover with a flower bud finial, the stand: 26cm across handles; the ecuelle and cover: 18.5cm across handles and 13.2cm high, interlaced LL monograms in blue, painter's marks for Fontaine and gilder's mark for Boulanger, incised marks (3)Footnotes:Provenance:Sir Walter Rockcliffe Farquhar, 3rd Bart (1810-1902), Polesden Lacey;Thence by descent to the current ownerExhibited:Bethnal Green Museum, from 1929This écuelle was exhibited from 1929 at the Bethnal Green Museum, which had been founded in 1872 as a branch museum of the Victoria & Albert Museum. Among many other disparate collections, much of Sir Richard Wallace's collection was displayed at the museum between 1872 and 1875 while Hertford House was being converted to receive it.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
A large Sèvres blue-ground sugar bowl and cover (pot à sucre 'Calabre'), circa 1770Of the first size, the blue ground reserved with gilt-edged cartouches enclosing putti and trophies 'en grisaille' surrounded by berried laurel garlands, gilt foliate and dotted borders to the rims, the cover applied with flower bud finial, 11cm high, interlaced LL monogram and dot in blue, incised mark (some flaking to gilt rim) (2)Footnotes:Provenance:With Antiquité Vandermeersch, Paris;With Vincent l'Herrou, Paris;Property from the Collection of Dr. Johannes Ralph LafrenzFor further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
A Sèvres square tray (plateau 'carré à jour), dated 1763Of the first size, the tapering sides moulded and pierced with a border of S-scrolls and bell-flowers, painted by Pierre-Antoine Méreaud (l'aîné) with a pink ground with blue trellis pattern around an undulating band with panels of alternating flowerheads and trellis panels, the centre with foliate flower garlands, 15cm wide, interlaced LL monogram enclosing date letter K, painter's mark 'S' for Méreaud, incised marks x and IC (restoration to the rim)Footnotes:Provenance:With Nicolier, Paris;Property from the Collection of Dr. Johannes Ralph LafrenzFor further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
A large Sèvres cup and saucer (Gobelet 'litron' et soucoupe), circa 1765Of the first size, possibly decorated by Jacques Fontaine, with a bleu-lapis ground and central cartouche of laurel wreath between bands of tooled gilding enclosing on the cup a grisaille scene of Amor seated on a cloud holding a bow and wreath, on the saucer his attributes of quiver and arrows and a wreath deposed on clouds, the rims of cup and saucer with a pointillé ground alternated by interlacing wreaths of gilt leaves, the cup: 8cm high, the saucer: 15.2cm diam., interlaced LL monogram over a single dot in blue, the saucer with incised X in square (minimal rubbing) (2)Footnotes:Provenance:Property from the Collection of Dr. Johannes Ralph LafrenzAccording to Rosalind Savill, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain (1988), Vol III, pp. 1033-1034, Jacques Fontaine worked as a painter, gilder and burnisher at the Sèvres factory between 1752-1800, and from 1767 he specialised in cherubs, grisaille trophies and children or cherubs in grisaille. In overtime 1767-69 he earned 4 livres each for reserves of monochrome children in landscapes, and 1 livre 10 sous each for 160 Médaillons et trophés en gris (op.cit. p.1034).A sugar bowl and cover with a comparable decoration previously with Michel Vandermeersch was sold at Drouot, 17 February 2016, lot 104.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
A Sèvres covered ewer and basin (Pot à l'eau à la Romaine et jatte à feuille de choux), circa 1777Based on a model first designed by Jean-Claude Duplessis in 1751, the ewer of hard-paste porcelain, painted by Louis-Gabriel Chulot with elaborate floral wreaths of different varieties including roses, poppies and cornflowers, on either side, the front with turtle doves flanking a wicker basket with a musette de coeur, a straw hat and letters, one entitled 'Pastor Fido' all set between moulded stylised leaf shapes heightened in gilding, the shell-shaped cover with a flower wreath enclosing a single rose, the large scrolling handle brought forth from gilt bulrushes surrounding the base of the handle, the basin of soft-paste porcelain painted by François-Marie Barrat with floral wreaths and swags between the moulded sways picked out in gilding, the ewer: 26cm high, the basin: 36.5cm wide, the basin: interlaced LL monogram enclosing dated letter 'Z' over painters mark FB all in mauve colour, the ewer: crowned interlaced LL mark and painters mark of a quaver (2)Footnotes:Provenance: Sotheby's New York, 11 November 2000, lot 40;Christie's New York, 24 October 2012, lot 156; Private European Collection;Property from the Collection of Dr. Johannes Ralph LafrenzThe writing on the letter on the ewer, 'Pastor Fido' likely refers to popular pastoral tragicomedy Pastor Fido by Giovanni Battista Guarini, first published in 1590. The play was to have its first performance in 1584 at the court of Vincenzo Gonzaga, who had intended to mount a production of the play as part of the festivities around his marriage to Leonora de'Medici, but remained unfinished until 1585, when it was performed in its completed version in honour of the marriage of the Duke of Savoy and Catharine of Austria. After its initial publication, Guarini revised the play many times, and it appeared in over a hundred editions following its first publication. It became one of the most famous plays of the 17th century, and inspired numerous composers including Monteverdi, Alessandro Grandi and Heinrich Schütz. Sonatas playing on themes from Il Pastor Fido for the instrument musette de coeur, depicted on the ewer, were long published as Vivaldi's opus 13. They were however secretly composed by a man called Nicholas Chédeville. The music was published in 1737 by Jean-Noël Marchand through a secret agreement with Chédeville to publish a collection of Chédeville's compositions under Vivaldi's name. Chédeville supplied the funding and received the profits, all of which was documented in a notarial act by Marchand in 1749. The work includes six sonatas for musette, Vielle à roue, recorder, flute, oboe or violin, and basso continuo (documented by Federico Maria Sardelli, Vivaldi's music for flute and recorder (2007), pp.76 ff. ) According to some, Chédeville was the most famous musette player France ever had. He was born in 1705 into a family of musicians and took up a post in the prestigious royal oboe consortium Les Grands Hautbois, where he stayed until a few years before his death in 1782. Notwithstanding his self-pronounced title as 'musette layer to the King', Chédeville was plagued by financial difficulties eventually leading to his bankruptcy shortly before his death in 1782. He however seems to have been successful in keeping up appearances at the French Court and taught the musette to Princess Victoire from about 1750. He became a popular teacher among the aristocracy, eventually attaining the title of maître de musette de Mesdames de France.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
A large Cologne/Frechen stoneware armorial jug (bellarmine), first half 17th centuryWith neck-cordons and a strap handle, moulded with a bearded mask around the neck and moulded oval medallions to the side, with the coat of arms for the city of Amsterdam on the front, 41.8cm high (typical minor chips to footrim edge)Footnotes:Another bellarmine with the arms of Amsterdam is in the collection of the British Museum, illustrated in D. Gaimster, German Stoneware 1200-1900 (1997), no. 67.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Twelve Sèvres plates from the 'Service de dessert Marly Rouge' for the Emperor Napoleon, circa 1809Each decorated in the centre with a butterfly reserved against a pale-blue ground within a colourful floral wreath bound with gilt ribbons against a burnished gilt band, the gilt-edged, red-ground rim with a border of formal gilt foliage within two gilt lines, 23.7cm diam. 'M.Imp.le/ de Sevres/ 1809' stencilled in iron-red, gilt marks and various incised marks (12)Footnotes:Provenance: A gift of Napoleon I to the ambassador Ferdinando, Conte Marescalchi;Thence by descent to the current ownerFerdinando Marescalchi (26 February 1754, Bologna - 22 June 1816, Modena) was a notable Italian diplomat and politician. When the French invaded Italy, he led the faction which openly declared their support of Napoleon, and he came to the attention of Bonaparte himself, who placed much trust and confidence in him.He was a strong supporter of the political reform of 1796 and when the Cispadane Republic was formed that year he became part of its executive directory. The Cispadane Republic sent him to Vienna as its plenipotentiary in 1799, but he was only able to gain a single audience with Francis I of Austria. Soon the Russo-Austrian invasion of Italy forced him and his colleagues to flee to France until they were able to return after the Battle of Marengo. In July 1800 he was made the Cispadane Republic's representative to Paris. He took part in the 1801-02 'Consulte de Lyon' in the former chapel of the Jesuit college of the trinity, where he is also depicted amongst the council in a complex and large painting by Nicolas-André Monsiau (1806-07). The Council at first suggested electing an Italian statesman as president, but no willing candidate could be found. Talleyrand then intervened and suggested that the Italians elect Bonaparte himself, due to the presence of French troops in Italy and the reluctance of the other Italian states to recognise the Cisalpine Republic - this suggestion was accepted, with Marescalchi's full support.Marescalchi lived in Paris as the Republic's foreign minister from 1802 to 1805. He was strongly supported in his work by Bernier, bishop of Orléans, who with Giovanni Battista Caprara co-organised the Concordat between Rome and Italian Republic, signed in Paris on 9 September 1803. Marescalchi also assisted in the coronation of Napoleon I on 2 December 1804. After the inauguration of Napoleon as King of Italy, Marescalchi became his representative in France, but with limited autonomy in Italy. He and Emmanuel Crétet signed a Franco-Italian trade treaty on 20 June 1808. He rented Hôtel de Massa as his Paris residence. Napoleon also made Marescalchi a count of the Kingdom of Italy in December 1810 and grand chancellor of the Order of the Iron Crown and a member of all the Napoleonic orders. He was also member of the electoral college of Reno. After Marescalchi's return to Bologna, Napoleon visited him twice. By this time Marescalchi's collection of Old Master paintings was renowned. It attracted much admiration, including that of Stendhal who, after a visit to Mareschalchi's palazzo wrote in his memoirs: 'in the house of Mr. Marescalchi there is a room to envy. It is full of exquisite paintings by Guido Reni, Guercino, Carracci. It's not the usual stuff. It is valued at 500,000 francs.' After Napoleon's abdication, Marie-Louise of Austria made Marescalchi governor of the Grand Duchy of Parma and Piacenza. He was also the Austrian emperor's plenipotentiary at Modena, where he died on 22 June 1816.For a discussion of the dessert service 'fond rouge, papillons et fleurs', commissioned for Compiègne but delivered in October 1809 to Fontainebleau, shortly before the Emperor's arrival there on 26th October for a stay of a little over two weeks see Camille Le Prince, Napoléon Ier & la Manufacture de Sèvres (2016), p. 72, and p. 278 for the entry of 11 October 1809 in the Magasin de Vente, including the composition of the service, which had a total value of 18,580 francs. Other table and coffee services were delivered to Fontainebleau at the same time, including a service with beau bleu ground that was also originally intended for Compiègne (S. Wittwer, Raffinesse & Eleganz (2007), cat. no. 64). In the imperial hierarchy, Fontainebleau ranked second among the country estates, just after Saint Cloud, and required furnishings commensurate with its importance (Le Prince, p. 72).The service comprised 180 plates, thirty-six plates (without the butterfly and floral wreath in the centre) for mounting as fruit plates, sixteen compotiers (of which half had dolphin feet), four footed bowls, four sugar bowls with eagle heads, two ice pails with elephant heads, two ice coolers of 'forme Olympique', four baskets 'forme Jasmin' and four shallower baskets. An additional four sugar bowls 'à dauphin olympique' were listed separately as a cost of 1400 francs, and four more plates were listed on 18 October 1809, and another on 25 March 1811 (Wittwer, ibid.).Two other plates from the service were sold in these Rooms, 3 December 2008, lots 371 and 372, the first of which was acquired by the Chateau de Fontainebleau. Another plate was sold in these rooms 25 May 2011, lot 363, and two more on 12 December 2012, lots 238 and 240. A further group of twelve plates were sold in these rooms on 5 July 2018, lot 223. A group comprising one of the ice pails with elephant heads, two of the sugar bowls with eagle heads, one footed bowl, six compotiers, as well as twelve plates, was sold from the estate of David Rockefeller (Christie's New York, 9 May 2018, lot 118).For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
A Vincennes pierced cheese dish (Fromager), dated 1756Of the second size, decorated with flowers between blue line borders, the sides pierced and heightened in gilding, 15.5cm long, interlaced LL monogram enclosing date letter c and unidentified painter's mark in blueFootnotes:Provenance:With Gerald Sattin, London (purchased 9 September 1988);Sèvres Porcelain from an International Private CollectionMoulds for this model can be found in the inventory of the manufactory as early as 1752, while drawings of amended designs appeared one or two years later. The shape came in two sizes, of which the present lot is the bigger of the two. Geoffrey de Bellaigue mentions that cheese dishes of the first and second size painted with flowers, such as the present lot, cost 48 and 42 livres respectively; see G. de Bellaigue, French Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, vol. II (2009), pp. 570f, no. 136, for a full discussion and two fromager with a bleu-céleste ground. Another bleu céleste example is in the Victoria and Albert Museum and illustrated in Tamara Préaud and Antoine d'Albis, La Porcelaine de Vincennes, Paris, 1991, no. 196, pp. 180-181.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Two Meissen groups with putti, late 19th/early 20th centuryThe first after the 18th century model M.V. Acier with two putti lighting a canon, the base moulded with gilt-edged scrollwork, the second with two putti making arrows, a tree beside them, on a tall rockwork base, 13.5cm and 19cm high, crossed swords marks in underglaze-blue, incised model numbers C.39 and E26, impressed numerals (some restoration) (2)Footnotes:Provenance:A Private Swiss Collection of 19th century MeissenThis lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
A Sèvres bleu-lapis ground teapot and cover (Théière 'Calabre'), circa 1774Of the first size, decorated by Jean-Jacques Pierre le jeune, with large oval cartouches enclosing scattered flowers such as roses and a large poppy on one side, the reverse with flowers and fruit such as peaches, grapes and apples alternated with trailing morning glory all on a dark blue ground, the gilt handle surrounded by tooled gilt oak leaves at the terminals, the spout surrounded by the same oak leaf pattern, and set with a spiralling garland of blooms finishing in a gilt edge, the cover with similar decoration and chrysanthemum finial, 12.5cm high, interlaced LL monogram enclosing dated letter 'V' and painter's mark P' in mauve (minute flat chip to tip of spout) (2)Footnotes:Provenance: With Stockspring Antiques;Property from the Collection of Dr. Johannes Ralph LafrenzPierre le jeune was at the Sèvres factory from 1763-1800 as a painter of flowers and as a gilder.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
A Sèvres covered cup and saucer (gobelet 'couvert' et soucoupe), dated 1759Of the first size, painted in pink camaieu with trailing flowers heightened with gilt dashes, gilt dentil rims, the cover applied with a flower finial, the cup:9cm high, the saucer: 13.8cm diam., interlaced LL monograms in blue enclosing date letter f, unidentified painter's mark o, incised marks (minor rubbing) (3)Footnotes:Provenance:Property from the Collection of Dr. Johannes Ralph LafrenzFor further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
MOORCROFT 'Red Rose, Holly and Berry and Lapland vases' - the first being Cobalt ground by Emma Bossons, shape No 55/2, May 2016, 5cms H, in original box with outer sleeve, the second on cream ground by Phillip Gibson, Christmas gift 2004, signed to the base, 10cms H in plain box, the final vase on cream ground with Cobalt lip and interior, designed by Kerry Goodwin, marked as seconds quality, 2010, 8.5cms H, no box, all have impressed and painted factory marks
A PAIR OF WALNUT AND NEEDLEWORK WALL SCONCES IN GEORGE I STYLE THE NEEDLEWORK FIRST HALF 18TH CENTURY, THE FRAMES 20TH CENTURY each depicting a courting lady and gentleman in a landscape scene accompanied by a dog, with a house in the distance, with silver metal thread details, in moulded fret-frames with a pair of candle holders (2) 56.7 x 35.5cm Provenance A Private European Collection. Acquired in 2003.
A NEEDLEWORK SAMPLER BY MARGARET DANIELL, FIRST HALF 19TH CENTURY worked with birds, tress, baskets of fruits and urns of flowers, inscribed with 'The Lark A Hymn' and signed 'Margaret Daniell Aged 9 years', in a glazed (cracked) bird's eye maple frame 42.4 x 31.5cm Provenance 'A Lifetime of Collecting' - The Property of a Gentleman.
TWO CHINESE BLACK LACQUER SCREENS; IN COROMANDEL STYLE, FIRST HALF 20TH CENTURY each gilt and polychrome decorated with courtly ladies in various pursuits, in watery landscapes with pavilions, animals and birds, with auspicious scholarly symbols, the back decorated with water birds and foliage, on brass feet, one of six panels, the other of eight panels, originally folding, hinges present but majority of pins missing (2) 213.7 x 40.3cm each panel for the six fold and 213.2 x 40.5 each panel for the eight fold
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