Western Manuscripts and Miniatures

Fragment of a Choir Book sponsored by a noble lady for the Dominicans and by a prolific and skilled Rouen painter.

164 x 124 mm. One partial leaf of one column of 5 lines and one stave of four red lines (26 mm), square notation, written in black ink in a formal gothic bookhand, rubrics in red, one-line initials either in burnished gold on red and blue ground with white tracery, in grisaille on burnished gold ground, or in blue in burnished gold ground, with white tracery, in-filled with a scallop shell or colored flowers, line-fillers in red, blue, and green on burnished gold ground, ONE TWO-LINE HISTORIATED INITIAL in grisaille on burnished gold ground, framed with black (tape stains on the right edge of the verso, sixth line of the verso trimmed, minor flakes in the burnished gold ground, else in very good condition).
 
This fragment comes from an Antiphonal that had been copied on two columns and was most likely commissioned by an unidentified noble lady for a Dominican establishment in Rouen in Normandy. The recto contains part of the left column of a Feria II, reading from the end of Matins to the beginning of Lauds, introduced with Psalm 50:3, “Miserere mei.” The verso follows with Psalm 37:19-20 on the right column, reading from “Quoniam iniquitatem…” to “et confir[mati sunt super me].” The beginning of Lauds is introduced with an historiated initial that depicts a Dominican monk kneeling in prayer before Christ, who appears in the sky. The open landscape arranged in a succession of diagonal hills, the expressive eyes of the monk, and the balance of the composition support an attribution of this initial to Robert Boyvin.

The same artist is responsible for a full sister leaf sold in Paris in 2014, which contains the first nocturn for the Feast of St. Vincent Ferrer, an important saint of the Dominican order. This full leaf presents a similar layout of the historiated and illuminated initials, including the recurring motif of the scallop shell. In its lower border, a woman dressed in black appears kneeling in prayer before St. Dominic, introduced by St. Michael, alongside her as-yet unidentified coat of arms blazoned parti d’argent à la fleur de lys de sable, et de gueules à la bande losangée d’argent.

This partial leaf belonged to what is the first known Antiphonal illuminated by Robert Boyvin. Documented in Rouen between 1480 and 1536, the artist succeeded the Master of the Rouen Échevinage as the most successful illuminator in the city around 1500. He rented a shop at the northern portal of Rouen’s cathedral, which allowed him to benefit from a broad clientele belonging both to the clergy and to the laity. More than eighty manuscripts are now attributed to him (see Adam 2018), spanning a long career that benefited from the patronage of Cardinal Georges d’Amboise. This historiated initial is characteristic of his style, defined by a taste for solemn, often richly colored compositions, and for figures endowed with expressive eyes and carefully individualized skin tones.

Provenance
Private collection, California, USA, MS 261.

Sister leaves
One full sister leaf (625 x 420 mm) was sold by Eric Caudron, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 19 March 2014, lot 5, opening the feast of St. Vincent Ferrer. No other sister leaf is known.

LITERATURE
Further literature on the artist, see: Isabelle Delaunay, “Le manuscrit enluminé à Rouen au temps du cardinal Georges d’Amboise: l’œuvre de Robert Boyvin et de Jean Serpin,” Annales de Normandie, 1995, pp. 211-244; Elliot Adam, “Retour sur l’œuvre de Robert Boyvin, enlumineur à Rouen vers 1500,” in Peindre à Rouen au XVIe siècle, Milan, 2018, pp. 101-119.

Freeman’s | Hindman thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Elliott Adam for their assistance in preparing this sale.