Western Manuscripts and Miniatures

An unusually large leaf (nearly a foot tall), the illumination rooted in the style of Master Honoré, the well-known Parisian illuminator who worked for the French monarchy.

245 x 180 mm. Single leaf, ruled in brown ink for one column of 21 lines (written space: 171 x 116 mm), written below the top of the line in dark brown ink in a formal gothic bookhand, rubrics in red, one-line illuminated initials in burnished gold on red and blue grounds with white tracery, line-fillers in same, one similar decoration in the verso bas-de-page, on the diagonal, extending from the bottom illuminated initial, ONE SEVEN-LINE INHABITED INITIAL in blue on pink and burnished gold ground, with white tracery and burnished gold disks, extended into the margin to form a partial text frame terminating in foliage and ivy leaves in orange, pink, blue, and burnished gold (transfers of ink and colors, tape stains at the edges, minor flakes in the ink, minor stains, mark of the opposite bas-de-page in the lower margin of the verso, unevenly cut along the gutter edge, else in good condition).
 
This leaf comes from an unpublished Psalter-Hymnal produced in France in the first half of the fourteenth century. The text contains the beginning of the hymnal, reading on the recto the incipit “Incipiunt hymni in dominicis diebus et ferialibus per totum annum…” followed by the hymn “Primo dierum omnium…,” to the hymn “Eterne rerum conditor…lucifer solvit polum…” on the verso. The first hymn is introduced by an inhabited initial ‘P’, for “Primo,” in which two colorful dragons are perched on top of a scrolling foliage of pink vines and orange and blue leaves.

The two sister leaves with historiated initials allow for a more precise consideration of the illumination. Their style, which results from the collaboration of two artists (see Kidd 2018), may be compared to the two illuminators of an Estoire del Saint Graal, produced in Paris in the 1310s or 1320s (Saint Petersburg, National Library of Russia, MS Fr.F.v.XV.5; see Morrison and Hedeman 2010, no. 12, pp. 127-129). Shared stylistic features include an interest for the sensibility and expressivity of the large faces and hands, a similarly distinct approach to the shading of clothes with pen-drawn black lines, and comparable motifs in the white tracery of the initials. Considering that these illuminators are rooted in the tradition of Maître Honoré and seem to announce the style of the Fauvel Master, this Psalter could have been illuminated between the first and second quarter of the century.

Provenance
(1) Jörn Günther, Basel, acquired in July 2009 by:
(2) Robert McCarthy, London, MS BM 1962c.

Sister leaves
Although the parent manuscript has not yet been identified, three leaves from the same manuscript are known, all but one are in the McCarthy collection, published together with the present leaf as no. 76 in his catalogue (see below).

LITERATURE
On the present leaf as well as its sister leaves, published: Peter Kidd, The McCarthy Collection, Vol. III, French Miniatures, London, 2018, no. 76c, pp. 270-3. Further literature, see: Elizabeth Morrison and Anne D. Hedeman, Imaginingthe Past in France. History in Manuscript Painting, Los Angeles, 2010.

We are grateful to Peter Kidd for permission to quote from his catalogue for this entry. Freeman’s | Hindman thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Elliott Adam for their assistance in preparing this sale.