![A MUSIC-MAKING ANGEL HYBRID, historiated initial 'D' cut from an illuminated choirbook on vellum [Paris, c.1290s]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2019/CKS/2019_CKS_17706_0204_001(a_music-making_angel_hybrid_historiated_initial_d_cut_from_an_illumina044309).jpg?w=1)
![A MUSIC-MAKING ANGEL HYBRID, historiated initial 'D' cut from an illuminated choirbook on vellum [Paris, c.1290s]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2019/CKS/2019_CKS_17706_0204_000(a_music-making_angel_hybrid_historiated_initial_d_cut_from_an_illumina044247).jpg?w=1)
Details
A MUSIC-MAKING ANGEL HYBRID, historiated initial 'D' cut from an illuminated choirbook on vellum [Paris, c.1290s]
A lively illumination associable with the workshop of one of the greatest figures in French book painting, Maître Honoré.
195 x 136mm. A fragment. Historiated initial 'D' opening the Mass of the Common of Virgin Martyrs, 'Diffusa est [gratia] in labiis [tuis]. 5 lines of text and music on a 4-line stave, verso with continuing text from Psalm 44 (slight stain in lower corner, verso with remnants of adhesive). Provenance: (1) 17th-century inscription within the drum: 'Lambe[z?] / Lambulle / Abot - / Barry / Duham?'. (2) Neil F. Phillips, Q.C (1924-1997), of Montreal, New York and Virginia, his MS 1189 exhibited at the Ketonah Museum of Art, New York (Benton, ed., Medieval Monsters, 1995, pp.24-25 and fig.67), and subsequently sold at Sotheby's, 2 December 1997, lot 64. A sister leaf from the same manuscript was sold at Sotheby's, 7 July 2015, lot 15.
The Honoré Group style, characterised by its sculptural compositions, its clean, minimalist lines and stark contrasting colours, can be found in several manuscripts – among which Bibles at Chantilly, Musée Condé, MSS 4–5; Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS. 5056 and a Missal for the royal chapel (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS. lat. 861).
A lively illumination associable with the workshop of one of the greatest figures in French book painting, Maître Honoré.
195 x 136mm. A fragment. Historiated initial 'D' opening the Mass of the Common of Virgin Martyrs, 'Diffusa est [gratia] in labiis [tuis]. 5 lines of text and music on a 4-line stave, verso with continuing text from Psalm 44 (slight stain in lower corner, verso with remnants of adhesive). Provenance: (1) 17th-century inscription within the drum: 'Lambe[z?] / Lambulle / Abot - / Barry / Duham?'. (2) Neil F. Phillips, Q.C (1924-1997), of Montreal, New York and Virginia, his MS 1189 exhibited at the Ketonah Museum of Art, New York (Benton, ed., Medieval Monsters, 1995, pp.24-25 and fig.67), and subsequently sold at Sotheby's, 2 December 1997, lot 64. A sister leaf from the same manuscript was sold at Sotheby's, 7 July 2015, lot 15.
The Honoré Group style, characterised by its sculptural compositions, its clean, minimalist lines and stark contrasting colours, can be found in several manuscripts – among which Bibles at Chantilly, Musée Condé, MSS 4–5; Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS. 5056 and a Missal for the royal chapel (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS. lat. 861).
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