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Lot 2THREE BIFOLIA WITH HISTORIATED AND ILLUMINATED INITIALS BY THE ALMAGEST ATELIER, from an illuminated Bible on vellum [Paris, c.1210-1220].
Three bifolia, here sold as individual lots, 256 x 170mm, 56 lines written below top line, written space: 170 x 98mm (some water damage to upper margins and slight staining to lower margins, light thumbing to corners). Provenance: from a 13th-century Parisian Bible, now sadly broken (the binding and 181 leaves appeared at Bloomsbury, 17 July 2014, lot 181).
The illumination is attributable to the circle of the Almagest Master, a Parisian illuminator named after Ptolemy's ‘Almagest’ (Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. lat. 16200), copied in 1213 (for other manuscripts illuminated by him, see R. Branner, Manuscript Painting in Paris during the Reign of Saint Louis, 1977, pp.27-29; F. Avril, ‘À quand remontent les premiers ateliers d’enlumineurs laïcs à Paris?’, Les Dossiers de l’Archéologie 16, 1976, pp.38-44 and R.H. Rouse and M.A. Rouse, Manuscripts and Their Makers: Commercial Book Producers in Medieval Paris 1200-1500, 2000, I, pp. 31-35). These are striking examples of the very finest French illumination at the dawn of the 13th century.
Three bifolia, here sold as individual lots, 256 x 170mm, 56 lines written below top line, written space: 170 x 98mm (some water damage to upper margins and slight staining to lower margins, light thumbing to corners). Provenance: from a 13th-century Parisian Bible, now sadly broken (the binding and 181 leaves appeared at Bloomsbury, 17 July 2014, lot 181).
The illumination is attributable to the circle of the Almagest Master, a Parisian illuminator named after Ptolemy's ‘Almagest’ (Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. lat. 16200), copied in 1213 (for other manuscripts illuminated by him, see R. Branner, Manuscript Painting in Paris during the Reign of Saint Louis, 1977, pp.27-29; F. Avril, ‘À quand remontent les premiers ateliers d’enlumineurs laïcs à Paris?’, Les Dossiers de l’Archéologie 16, 1976, pp.38-44 and R.H. Rouse and M.A. Rouse, Manuscripts and Their Makers: Commercial Book Producers in Medieval Paris 1200-1500, 2000, I, pp. 31-35). These are striking examples of the very finest French illumination at the dawn of the 13th century.
A BIFOLIUM WITH FOUR HISTORIATED AND ONE ILLUMINATED INITIAL BY THE ALMAGEST ATELIER
Closed1 December 2015
Price Realised
GBP 3,750
