![[HERALDRY.] -- ARMORIAL DE L'ORDRE DE LA TOISON D'OR, in French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2006/NYR/2006_NYR_01769_0206_000(122633).jpg?w=1)
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[HERALDRY.] -- ARMORIAL DE L'ORDRE DE LA TOISON D'OR, in French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
[southern Netherlands, c.1540]295 x 205mm, 58 leaves (f.58 former pastedown): 17(of 6 + i), 28, 316, 4-510, 67(of 6 + vii), COMPLETE, written in black ink in a lettre bâtarde between two verticals and two horizontals ruled in grey, justification: 198 x 121mm, one-line initials and line-endings in liquid gold on grounds alternately of red and blue, one seven-line initial with staves of liquid gold branches on a green ground framed in gold, 185 COATS OF ARMS SURROUNDED BY THE COLLAR OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE, WITH CRESTS AND MANTLING, in colours and liquid gold and silver on alternate grounds of red and green in architectural frames, FIVE FULL-PAGE ARMORIAL DISPLAYS WITH MOTTOES on red grounds in frames of brown and gold with antique ornaments, FIVE FULL-PAGE MINIATURES OF THE FIRST FIVE SOVEREIGNS OF THE ORDER at full-length against blue grounds in similar frames (slight rubbing to miniature grounds with flaking of blue on ff.25v, 32v, 33, slight wear to margins). Early 17th-century brown leather stamped with floral centre- and corner-pieces within a foliate frame over pasteboard, spine in five compartments (spine defective, lower joint splitting, lacking four textile ties).
PROVENANCE:
1. Script and decoration indicate that the manuscript was made in the southern Netherlands, perhaps for one of the new knights elected at the Chapter of 1531 in Tournai, the last chapter recorded. The text can be dated between 1535-1540.
CONTENT AND ILLUMINATION:
Armorial of the Order of the Golden Fleece from its foundation in 1430 to 1531, ff:1-54: opening 'A la premiere creation et institution de l'ordre de la thoison dor f.2v; portrait of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, the founder, f.4; his coat of arms and motto Aultre naray, f.4v; the names and arms of the 24 knights elected at the Order's foundation at Bruges in 1430 (n.s.), arranged in pairs in two rows on each page, ff.5-7v; the place and date of each chapter is followed by the names of the knights lost through death or expulsion since the last meeting and by the names and arms of the knights then elected, from the first chapter at Lille in 1431 to the 18th at St-Omer in 1461, this numbering including cancelled chapters not included in the official enumeration that makes the 1461 meeting the 10th chapter, ff.8-17v; record of the death of Philip the Good in 1467 and the succession of his son, Charles the Bold, as Duke of Burgundy, f.18; portrait of Charles the Bold, f.6v; his arms with the motto Je lay empris, properly emprins, f.7; the losses and elections, with names and arms, for the 19th chapter at Bruges in 1467/8 and the 20th at Valenciennes in 1473, ff.7v-24 (ff.21v-23r blanks); account of the death of Charles the Bold in 1477, leaving the Order without a sovereign until the marriage of his daughter and heiress, Mary, with Maximilian of Habsburg, f.24v; the 21st chapter at Bruges in 1478, with its losses, f.25; portrait of Maximilian, f.25v; his arms with the motto Halt maas, f.26; blanks, ff.26v-27; names and arms of the knights elected in 1478, ff.27v-28; 22nd chapter held at 's Hertogenbosch in 1481, with losses and elections, with names and arms, ff.28v-30v (f.29 blank); 23rd chapter held at Mechelen in 1491 when Philip the Fair, son of Mary and Maximilian, first presided as sovereign, with its losses, f.31; an empty full-page miniature frame, f.31v; blank, f.32; portrait of Philip the Fair, King of Castile by right of his wife, Juana, f.32v; his arms with motto Qui voudra, f.33; blank, f.33v; names and arms of the new knights, ff.34-35v; the 24th chapter held at Brussels in 1500 and the 25th chapter held at Middelburg in Zeeland in 1505, with losses and elections, with names and arms, ff.36-40 (blanks ff.36v, 38v); portrait of Charles V, Philip's son, elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1519, f.40v; his arms with the motto Plus oultre, f.41; blank f.41v; the losses and elections, with names and arms, from the 26th chapter held at Brussels in 1516 (losses omitted f.42) to the 29th chapter held at Tournai in 1531 (officially the 20th chapter), where the record of elections is inaccurate, ending with two empty shields, ff.42-54 (blanks ff.47, 50v); blanks ff.54v-58v.
The Order of the Golden Fleece, one of the most prestigious orders of knighthood, was divided with the accession of Philip of France to the Spanish crown in 1700 into separate Spanish and Austrian branches, which still survive. It was founded by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in Bruges in 1430, on the occasion of his marriage to Isabella of Portugal, and named for Jason's pursuit of the Golden Fleece, a classical exemplar of the chivalric quest. The morally less ambivalent example of Gideon, the Biblical hero to whom God demonstrated His support through a fleece, was rapidly adopted as an additional inspiration. From a brotherhood of the nobles and knights in Philip's immediate ambit, the Order became an instrument of international diplomacy with the elections of Charles, duke of Orléans, in 1440 and Alfonso V of Aragon in 1445, ff.12 and 13. This means that the arms of the great rulers of the age, like Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France, ff.39 and 42v, appear alongside those of chivalric heroes, like Jacques de Lalaing, and of great aristocrats, among them the bibliophiles Anthony of Burgundy, le Grand Bâtard, and Louis of Gruthuuse, ff16 and 17v. With Mary of Burgundy's marriage to Maximilian of Habsburg and the marriage of their son, Philip, to the heiress of Spain, the Order became ever more international. In 1519 (n.s.), Philip's son, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V held the 19th chapter at Barcelona, f.46. For the Order of the Golden Fleece and its associated manuscripts, see especially P. Cockshaw and C. van den Bergen-Pantens eds., L'Ordre de la Toison d'Or de Philippe le Bon à Philippe le Beau (1430-1505): idéal ou reflet d'une société, 1996; exh.cat. La Toison d'or, cinq siècles d'art et d'histoire, Bruges, 1962.
The Chapters were occasions of splendid pomp and display, in which coats of arms played a prominent part. Over the seat of each knight hung a panel with his arms, which then remained in the church where the chapter had been held. The surviving panels are highly decorative paintings, despite the convention for omitting supporters, much on the model of the heraldic displays in the present lot. The content of this armorial can be dated between 1535, when Georg Schenk von Tautenburg was appointed Governor of Frisia, as he appears on f.53, and 1540, when René de Chalon, prince of Orange, and Maximilian van Egmont, count of Buren, joined the Order. It apparently derives from the famous Armorial of the Golden Fleece in Brussels, KBR, Ms IV 84, possibly identifiable with the copy made for the Order itself for which the great illuminator Simon Bening was paid in 1538 (n.s), with five full-page portraits and armorial displays of the sovereigns and 184 smaller shields, although the Brussels manuscript, like the present lot, has 185 shields. Both copies have the same mistakes for the 1531 elections, by omitting Bertrand de la Cueva, duke of Toledo, while including William, count of Nassau-Dillenburg (here, f.53v). Elected at the Tournai chapter as a reserve candidate, he actually refused the honour in 1532. These mistakes have been an argument against identifying the Brussels copy with the 1538 payment to Bening, since the officers of the Order should have provided accurate information. There were, however, concerns about inaccurate records expressed at the 1531 chapter and Charles V himself instructed the Order's herald, Toison d'Or, to make any necessary corrections to the heraldry of the painted panels before they were put on display in Tournai cathedral (I. de Lannoy, Le chapitre de la Toison d'or tenu à Tournai en 1531, Tournai Art et histoire 15, 2000, p.63). The 1531 chapter seems to have generated particularly faulty records: the names of the knights in the present lot do not appear in what became their official order. Furthermore, in the extraordinarily lavish Armorial of the Golden Fleece completed for Charles V in 1552, possibly identifiable with KBR Ms FS IX 93 LP, the 24 coats of arms for 1531 had to be 'remade and renewed' from information specially sent to the illuminator Jan van Battel by officials of the Order. Mistakes alone, therefore, seem an insufficient reason for disassociating the 1538 payment to Bening from the Brussels manuscript.
That the Bening copy in Brussels, or a similar version, was the model for the present lot is also evident in the miniatures. Although both show the sovereigns in the red robes of the Order against blue grounds, their poses have been significantly altered in the present lot to give greater animation and variety. The brilliant play of colours continues as the red against blue of the portrait miniatures is enhanced by the red grounds of the full-page armorials, generously ornamented in gold with the fire steels and sparks of the Order's emblems. The knights' shields are then set against alternate grounds of red and green, framed by exuberantly decorated columns in gold and silver supporting blue sills and lintels. The framings of miniatures and armorials in this copy are more elaborate than in the Bening manuscript. Their classicising decoration relates more to the volume attributed to Jan van Battel, which largely depends on a later version by Simon Bening, containing both the statutes and the armorial of the Golden Fleece and dating from after 1540, now in the Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan, Madrid, where the sovereigns were shown against landscapes framed by Renaissance archways. The present lot is earlier in date than most derivative versions, which usually follow the less decorative forms found in a copy postdating 1559, Brussels KBR Ms 9080, which, like many others as the 16th century progressed, incorporated printed elements. The copies sold at Christie's, London, on 21 June 1989, lot 39, or with Antiquariat Heribert Tenschert, Leuchtendes Mittelater III, 1991, no 35, were both of that type.
Inspired by the designs of Simon Bening, the present lot, entirely executed by hand in glowing colours and metals, is an impressive embodiment of the splendour of the Order of the Golden Fleece and of the closing decades of the great age of Flemish manuscript illumination.
[southern Netherlands, c.1540]295 x 205mm, 58 leaves (f.58 former pastedown): 1
PROVENANCE:
1. Script and decoration indicate that the manuscript was made in the southern Netherlands, perhaps for one of the new knights elected at the Chapter of 1531 in Tournai, the last chapter recorded. The text can be dated between 1535-1540.
CONTENT AND ILLUMINATION:
Armorial of the Order of the Golden Fleece from its foundation in 1430 to 1531, ff:1-54: opening 'A la premiere creation et institution de l'ordre de la thoison dor f.2v; portrait of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, the founder, f.4; his coat of arms and motto Aultre naray, f.4v; the names and arms of the 24 knights elected at the Order's foundation at Bruges in 1430 (n.s.), arranged in pairs in two rows on each page, ff.5-7v; the place and date of each chapter is followed by the names of the knights lost through death or expulsion since the last meeting and by the names and arms of the knights then elected, from the first chapter at Lille in 1431 to the 18th at St-Omer in 1461, this numbering including cancelled chapters not included in the official enumeration that makes the 1461 meeting the 10th chapter, ff.8-17v; record of the death of Philip the Good in 1467 and the succession of his son, Charles the Bold, as Duke of Burgundy, f.18; portrait of Charles the Bold, f.6v; his arms with the motto Je lay empris, properly emprins, f.7; the losses and elections, with names and arms, for the 19th chapter at Bruges in 1467/8 and the 20th at Valenciennes in 1473, ff.7v-24 (ff.21v-23r blanks); account of the death of Charles the Bold in 1477, leaving the Order without a sovereign until the marriage of his daughter and heiress, Mary, with Maximilian of Habsburg, f.24v; the 21st chapter at Bruges in 1478, with its losses, f.25; portrait of Maximilian, f.25v; his arms with the motto Halt maas, f.26; blanks, ff.26v-27; names and arms of the knights elected in 1478, ff.27v-28; 22nd chapter held at 's Hertogenbosch in 1481, with losses and elections, with names and arms, ff.28v-30v (f.29 blank); 23rd chapter held at Mechelen in 1491 when Philip the Fair, son of Mary and Maximilian, first presided as sovereign, with its losses, f.31; an empty full-page miniature frame, f.31v; blank, f.32; portrait of Philip the Fair, King of Castile by right of his wife, Juana, f.32v; his arms with motto Qui voudra, f.33; blank, f.33v; names and arms of the new knights, ff.34-35v; the 24th chapter held at Brussels in 1500 and the 25th chapter held at Middelburg in Zeeland in 1505, with losses and elections, with names and arms, ff.36-40 (blanks ff.36v, 38v); portrait of Charles V, Philip's son, elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1519, f.40v; his arms with the motto Plus oultre, f.41; blank f.41v; the losses and elections, with names and arms, from the 26th chapter held at Brussels in 1516 (losses omitted f.42) to the 29th chapter held at Tournai in 1531 (officially the 20th chapter), where the record of elections is inaccurate, ending with two empty shields, ff.42-54 (blanks ff.47, 50v); blanks ff.54v-58v.
The Order of the Golden Fleece, one of the most prestigious orders of knighthood, was divided with the accession of Philip of France to the Spanish crown in 1700 into separate Spanish and Austrian branches, which still survive. It was founded by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in Bruges in 1430, on the occasion of his marriage to Isabella of Portugal, and named for Jason's pursuit of the Golden Fleece, a classical exemplar of the chivalric quest. The morally less ambivalent example of Gideon, the Biblical hero to whom God demonstrated His support through a fleece, was rapidly adopted as an additional inspiration. From a brotherhood of the nobles and knights in Philip's immediate ambit, the Order became an instrument of international diplomacy with the elections of Charles, duke of Orléans, in 1440 and Alfonso V of Aragon in 1445, ff.12 and 13. This means that the arms of the great rulers of the age, like Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France, ff.39 and 42v, appear alongside those of chivalric heroes, like Jacques de Lalaing, and of great aristocrats, among them the bibliophiles Anthony of Burgundy, le Grand Bâtard, and Louis of Gruthuuse, ff16 and 17v. With Mary of Burgundy's marriage to Maximilian of Habsburg and the marriage of their son, Philip, to the heiress of Spain, the Order became ever more international. In 1519 (n.s.), Philip's son, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V held the 19th chapter at Barcelona, f.46. For the Order of the Golden Fleece and its associated manuscripts, see especially P. Cockshaw and C. van den Bergen-Pantens eds., L'Ordre de la Toison d'Or de Philippe le Bon à Philippe le Beau (1430-1505): idéal ou reflet d'une société, 1996; exh.cat. La Toison d'or, cinq siècles d'art et d'histoire, Bruges, 1962.
The Chapters were occasions of splendid pomp and display, in which coats of arms played a prominent part. Over the seat of each knight hung a panel with his arms, which then remained in the church where the chapter had been held. The surviving panels are highly decorative paintings, despite the convention for omitting supporters, much on the model of the heraldic displays in the present lot. The content of this armorial can be dated between 1535, when Georg Schenk von Tautenburg was appointed Governor of Frisia, as he appears on f.53, and 1540, when René de Chalon, prince of Orange, and Maximilian van Egmont, count of Buren, joined the Order. It apparently derives from the famous Armorial of the Golden Fleece in Brussels, KBR, Ms IV 84, possibly identifiable with the copy made for the Order itself for which the great illuminator Simon Bening was paid in 1538 (n.s), with five full-page portraits and armorial displays of the sovereigns and 184 smaller shields, although the Brussels manuscript, like the present lot, has 185 shields. Both copies have the same mistakes for the 1531 elections, by omitting Bertrand de la Cueva, duke of Toledo, while including William, count of Nassau-Dillenburg (here, f.53v). Elected at the Tournai chapter as a reserve candidate, he actually refused the honour in 1532. These mistakes have been an argument against identifying the Brussels copy with the 1538 payment to Bening, since the officers of the Order should have provided accurate information. There were, however, concerns about inaccurate records expressed at the 1531 chapter and Charles V himself instructed the Order's herald, Toison d'Or, to make any necessary corrections to the heraldry of the painted panels before they were put on display in Tournai cathedral (I. de Lannoy, Le chapitre de la Toison d'or tenu à Tournai en 1531, Tournai Art et histoire 15, 2000, p.63). The 1531 chapter seems to have generated particularly faulty records: the names of the knights in the present lot do not appear in what became their official order. Furthermore, in the extraordinarily lavish Armorial of the Golden Fleece completed for Charles V in 1552, possibly identifiable with KBR Ms FS IX 93 LP, the 24 coats of arms for 1531 had to be 'remade and renewed' from information specially sent to the illuminator Jan van Battel by officials of the Order. Mistakes alone, therefore, seem an insufficient reason for disassociating the 1538 payment to Bening from the Brussels manuscript.
That the Bening copy in Brussels, or a similar version, was the model for the present lot is also evident in the miniatures. Although both show the sovereigns in the red robes of the Order against blue grounds, their poses have been significantly altered in the present lot to give greater animation and variety. The brilliant play of colours continues as the red against blue of the portrait miniatures is enhanced by the red grounds of the full-page armorials, generously ornamented in gold with the fire steels and sparks of the Order's emblems. The knights' shields are then set against alternate grounds of red and green, framed by exuberantly decorated columns in gold and silver supporting blue sills and lintels. The framings of miniatures and armorials in this copy are more elaborate than in the Bening manuscript. Their classicising decoration relates more to the volume attributed to Jan van Battel, which largely depends on a later version by Simon Bening, containing both the statutes and the armorial of the Golden Fleece and dating from after 1540, now in the Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan, Madrid, where the sovereigns were shown against landscapes framed by Renaissance archways. The present lot is earlier in date than most derivative versions, which usually follow the less decorative forms found in a copy postdating 1559, Brussels KBR Ms 9080, which, like many others as the 16th century progressed, incorporated printed elements. The copies sold at Christie's, London, on 21 June 1989, lot 39, or with Antiquariat Heribert Tenschert, Leuchtendes Mittelater III, 1991, no 35, were both of that type.
Inspired by the designs of Simon Bening, the present lot, entirely executed by hand in glowing colours and metals, is an impressive embodiment of the splendour of the Order of the Golden Fleece and of the closing decades of the great age of Flemish manuscript illumination.