.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Presentation in the Temple, miniature on a leaf from a Book of Hours, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris, c.1450]
細節
St Stephen Workshop
Presentation in the Temple, miniature on a leaf from a Book of Hours, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris, c.1450]
An fine miniature illuminated by a member of the St Stephen Workshop, a group of illuminators whose style was formed in the milieu of the Bedford and Dunois Masters. Our artist contributed to the Salisbury Breviary and to an unfinished Bible historiale now held at the BnF.
170 x 126mm. The Presentation in the Temple opening none in the Hours of the Virgin. Reverse with 16 lines of text and 6 illuminated initials and line fillers with a one-sided panel border, ruled space: 93 x 63mm, modern pencil annotation in the lower margin of the verso (a little oxidation to the arch framing the scene, small instances of pigment flaking and rubbing). Mounted (370 x 278mm). Provenance: (1) Phillip J. Pirages, cat. 51, 2005, no 37. (2) Sotheby’s, 6 December 2005, lot 18.
Illumination: The artist who painted this Presentation in the Temple was also responsible for a number of the border scenes in the Salisbury Breviary (Paris, BnF, lat.17294, ff.112-119), one of the four manuscripts owned or commissioned by John, Duke of Bedford, English Regent in France from 1423, from which the Bedford Master takes his name. He is one of the hands identified with the St Stephen workshop, named for the artist who painted the only large miniature in the Salisbury Breviary not in the related styles of the Bedford or Dunois Masters: an Invention of St Stephen (f.529v; for discussion of the St Stephen Style, see C. Reynolds, 'The Workshop of the Master of the Duke of Bedford: Definitions and Identities', in Patrons, Authors, and Workshops: Books and Book Production in Paris around 1400, 2006, pp.450-455). The workshop of the St Stephen Master emerges distinct from the ‘Bedford Workshop’ label and achieves independent status: the Master adopted compositions of the Bedford and Dunois Masters – who themselves borrowed from the Tres Riches Heures – and rendered them in his own distinctive and accomplished style, characterised by slightly narrow-headed figures with pale faces, whose features are defined with a sharp line, emphasising hooded eyes, and an even finish to his miniatures unlike the deliberately evident brushstrokes of the Bedford Style. The group appears to be active in Paris, although some of the artists worked in other centres; five Books of Hours for Paris use were painted by artists working in the St Stephen style, including an Hours in Los Angeles (J. Paul Getty Museum, MS Ludwig IX 6, see f.83 for Presentation miniature) and another at the Huntington Library in San Marino (HM 1100), whose Presentation in the Temple miniature (f.79) is a simplified version of the same subject in the Tres Riches Heures, via the Dunois Hours. The hand of our artist also appears in an unfinished Bible historiale in Paris (BnF fr.2066, ff.3-6).
Presentation in the Temple, miniature on a leaf from a Book of Hours, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris, c.1450]
An fine miniature illuminated by a member of the St Stephen Workshop, a group of illuminators whose style was formed in the milieu of the Bedford and Dunois Masters. Our artist contributed to the Salisbury Breviary and to an unfinished Bible historiale now held at the BnF.
170 x 126mm. The Presentation in the Temple opening none in the Hours of the Virgin. Reverse with 16 lines of text and 6 illuminated initials and line fillers with a one-sided panel border, ruled space: 93 x 63mm, modern pencil annotation in the lower margin of the verso (a little oxidation to the arch framing the scene, small instances of pigment flaking and rubbing). Mounted (370 x 278mm). Provenance: (1) Phillip J. Pirages, cat. 51, 2005, no 37. (2) Sotheby’s, 6 December 2005, lot 18.
Illumination: The artist who painted this Presentation in the Temple was also responsible for a number of the border scenes in the Salisbury Breviary (Paris, BnF, lat.17294, ff.112-119), one of the four manuscripts owned or commissioned by John, Duke of Bedford, English Regent in France from 1423, from which the Bedford Master takes his name. He is one of the hands identified with the St Stephen workshop, named for the artist who painted the only large miniature in the Salisbury Breviary not in the related styles of the Bedford or Dunois Masters: an Invention of St Stephen (f.529v; for discussion of the St Stephen Style, see C. Reynolds, 'The Workshop of the Master of the Duke of Bedford: Definitions and Identities', in Patrons, Authors, and Workshops: Books and Book Production in Paris around 1400, 2006, pp.450-455). The workshop of the St Stephen Master emerges distinct from the ‘Bedford Workshop’ label and achieves independent status: the Master adopted compositions of the Bedford and Dunois Masters – who themselves borrowed from the Tres Riches Heures – and rendered them in his own distinctive and accomplished style, characterised by slightly narrow-headed figures with pale faces, whose features are defined with a sharp line, emphasising hooded eyes, and an even finish to his miniatures unlike the deliberately evident brushstrokes of the Bedford Style. The group appears to be active in Paris, although some of the artists worked in other centres; five Books of Hours for Paris use were painted by artists working in the St Stephen style, including an Hours in Los Angeles (J. Paul Getty Museum, MS Ludwig IX 6, see f.83 for Presentation miniature) and another at the Huntington Library in San Marino (HM 1100), whose Presentation in the Temple miniature (f.79) is a simplified version of the same subject in the Tres Riches Heures, via the Dunois Hours. The hand of our artist also appears in an unfinished Bible historiale in Paris (BnF fr.2066, ff.3-6).
注意事項
This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.
榮譽呈獻
Emily Pilling
Senior Sale Coordinator