Details
CALENDAR MINIATURES. [Nineteenth Century]. Twelve vellum leaves, 140 x 90mm. (5 1/2 x 3 1/2 in.), each with a miniature in colors and gold within a rectangular frame centered on one side, the borders and the versos blank; each miniature divided into two registers, the upper two-thirds depicting the labor of the month in an arched frame, the lower one-third depicting the signs of the zodiac within oval cartouches, the upper corners and the areas outside the ovals filled with scrolling or trellised foliage and flowers in gold and pastels on solid colored grounds. Slight, unobtrusive flaking of pigment from one leaf (February). The set of leaves removed from a book (sewing holes visible at several vertical edges); housed in a blue buckram folder in a blue morocco clamshell box by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, the hinge of the box broken.
MINIATURES
January: keeping warm and feasting -- Aquarius
February: cutting wood -- Pisces
March: digging -- Aries
April: picnicking -- Taurau
May: hunting -- Gemini
June: haying -- Cancer
July: reaping -- Leo
August: threshing -- Virgo
September: treading grapes -- Libra
October: sowing -- Scorpio
November: harvesting acorns -- Sagittarius
December: killing the pig -- Capricorn
These calendar miniatures, featuring the labors of the months and the signs of the zodiac, were probably executed in London in the mid-nineteenth century by Caleb W. Wing. Wing, who was employed by the London jeweller and collector John Boykett Jarman, not only retouched some of Jarman's flood-damaged manuscripts, but also painted modern miniatures modelled on medieval originals for insertion into existing genuine manuscripts. The present miniatures conform well to the characteristics of his work, as described by Janet Backhouse: "All the miniatures have similar characteristics -- bright colours, careful attention to detail, an almost glossy finish. In most cases they are remarkably true to their models, although sometimes the faces of the figures could not have been painted in any but the nineteenth century." ("A Victorian Connoisseur and His Manuscripts: The Tale of Mr. Jarman and Mr. Wing," British Museum Quarterly, 32, no. 34 (Spring 1968), pp.76-92 and pl. XXVI-XXX; for Wing's correct forenames, see C.W. Dutschke, Guide to the Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library, San Marino, 1989, HM 1153). Wing's models were mostly authentic manuscripts that belonged to Jarman, one of his favorite sources being a Flemish book of hours later in the possession of Th. Belin in Paris (J. Destrée and P. Bautier, Les heures dites da Costa: manuscrit de lécole ganto-brugeoise premier tiers du XVIe siécles, Brussels, 1924; Backhouse, op. cit, p.88, lot 65). Three of the zodiac symbols in the present set, Gemini, Cancer and Virgo, show exactly the same composition of figures and background as the corresponding vignettes there. The present miniatures are possibly to be identified with lot 116 in Jarman's sale (Sotheby's, 13-14 June 1864): "Miniatures for a Calendar, containing 12 paintings, executed in gold and colours upon vellum. 8vo."
MINIATURES
January: keeping warm and feasting -- Aquarius
February: cutting wood -- Pisces
March: digging -- Aries
April: picnicking -- Taurau
May: hunting -- Gemini
June: haying -- Cancer
July: reaping -- Leo
August: threshing -- Virgo
September: treading grapes -- Libra
October: sowing -- Scorpio
November: harvesting acorns -- Sagittarius
December: killing the pig -- Capricorn
These calendar miniatures, featuring the labors of the months and the signs of the zodiac, were probably executed in London in the mid-nineteenth century by Caleb W. Wing. Wing, who was employed by the London jeweller and collector John Boykett Jarman, not only retouched some of Jarman's flood-damaged manuscripts, but also painted modern miniatures modelled on medieval originals for insertion into existing genuine manuscripts. The present miniatures conform well to the characteristics of his work, as described by Janet Backhouse: "All the miniatures have similar characteristics -- bright colours, careful attention to detail, an almost glossy finish. In most cases they are remarkably true to their models, although sometimes the faces of the figures could not have been painted in any but the nineteenth century." ("A Victorian Connoisseur and His Manuscripts: The Tale of Mr. Jarman and Mr. Wing," British Museum Quarterly, 32, no. 34 (Spring 1968), pp.76-92 and pl. XXVI-XXX; for Wing's correct forenames, see C.W. Dutschke, Guide to the Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library, San Marino, 1989, HM 1153). Wing's models were mostly authentic manuscripts that belonged to Jarman, one of his favorite sources being a Flemish book of hours later in the possession of Th. Belin in Paris (J. Destrée and P. Bautier, Les heures dites da Costa: manuscrit de lécole ganto-brugeoise premier tiers du XVIe siécles, Brussels, 1924; Backhouse, op. cit, p.88, lot 65). Three of the zodiac symbols in the present set, Gemini, Cancer and Virgo, show exactly the same composition of figures and background as the corresponding vignettes there. The present miniatures are possibly to be identified with lot 116 in Jarman's sale (Sotheby's, 13-14 June 1864): "Miniatures for a Calendar, containing 12 paintings, executed in gold and colours upon vellum. 8vo."