Masters of the Delft Half-Length Figures (c.1460s-80s)
The Nativity, miniature on a leaf from a Book of Hours, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Delft, c.1470]
A charming staging of the Nativity scene combined with the Annunciation to the Shepherds by one of the Masters of the Delft Half-Length Figures, the half-lengths after which they are named replaced here by a full-length angel joining the adoration of the Christ Child.
173 x 115mm. An inserted miniature removed from a Book of Hours, without text but likely opening Prime in the Hours of the Virgin (occasional pigment losses and a few scattered pinholes). Provenance: (1) Sold with six sister leaves at Christie’s, 9 July 2001, lot 5. (2) Christie's, 15 July 2015, lot 11.
The present leaf derives from the same pattern as the Keble Hours – with Joseph holding a large candle that will be dimmed by the divine light of the Christ Child.
Masters of the Delft Half-Length Figures (c.1460s-80s)
The Nativity, miniature on a leaf from a Book of Hours, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Delft, c.1470]
A charming staging of the Nativity scene combined with the Annunciation to the Shepherds by one of the Masters of the Delft Half-Length Figures, the half-lengths after which they are named replaced here by a full-length angel joining the adoration of the Christ Child.
173 x 115mm. An inserted miniature removed from a Book of Hours, without text but likely opening Prime in the Hours of the Virgin (occasional pigment losses and a few scattered pinholes). Provenance: (1) Sold with six sister leaves at Christie’s, 9 July 2001, lot 5. (2) Christie's, 15 July 2015, lot 11.
The present leaf derives from the same pattern as the Keble Hours – with Joseph holding a large candle that will be dimmed by the divine light of the Christ Child.
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