Anonymous Parisian artist
Lot 14

Anonymous Parisian artist

David in Prayer, large miniature on a leaf from a Book of Hours, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris, c.1420-30]

Closed14 December 2022

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GBP 2,000–3,000

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Anonymous Parisian artist
David in Prayer, large miniature on a leaf from a Book of Hours, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris, c.1420-30]
David in Prayer, a miniature from a Book of Hours painted in Paris c.1420-30.

180 x 130mm. Large miniature opening the Penitential Psalms depicting David kneeling in prayer with his harp before God the Father, above a three-line initial in red with white penwork on a blue ground enclosing ivy leaves on gold and four lines of text, three-quarter frame, all within full borders of acanthus, flowers and gold ivy leaves, the verso with 14 lines of text, ruled space: 96 x 68mm, one-line illuminated initials and a one-sided border of gold ivy leaves and flowers (perhaps a little retouched, cropping just affecting the outer border).

Illumination:
The style of the present miniature is close to that seen in a Book of Hours held at the Colegio Escuelas Pías in Zaragoza, illuminated in Paris in the 1420s (see Planas Badenas and Docampo Capilla, Horae: El poder de la imagen, 2016, no 7): the rocky outcrop topped by trees behind David is a motif familiar from many compositions painted in the city by followers of the Boucicaut Master in the 1420s and 1430s.

Christie's is grateful to Gregory Clark for the attribution of the present miniature.