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Psalter, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris, final quarter 13th century]
Details
Maître Honoré (fl.1288-1318)
Psalter, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris, final quarter 13th century]
A charming Psalter from the turn of the 14th century containing an exquisite and arresting miniature by one of the greatest figures in French book painting: the Maître Honoré.
134 x 94mm. viii (paper) + 148 + i (paper) leaves, 18 lines, illuminated initials with flourishing extending into borders opening the Psalms, red and blue penwork initials throughout, rubrics in red, illuminated line fillers, one large historiated initial (misbound and lacking perhaps 30 leaves, including 7 with historiated initials for major divisions of the the Psalter at Psalms 1, 26, 38, 68, 80, 97 and 109, small horizontal tear at f.139, occasional marginal thumbing and cockling). 19th-century red morocco gilt (edges lightly scuffed).
Provenance: Psalms and prayers to be said on Sundays have been added in a 19th-century hand: the same hand annotates the Psalter throughout. Faded and illegible inscriptions in pencil on upper board and opening flyleaf; inventory number '3609' on final endleaf.
Content: Psalms to be read on Sundays, and other prayers, in a 19th-century hand ff. i-viii; Psalter ff.1-148v, misbound, opening with Psalm 32 and ending with Psalms 2-19.
Illumination: Born in Amiens and in the employ of Philip the Fair from 1288, Maître Honoré was deeply influential in the evolution of late 13th- and early 14th-century French manuscript illumination. The expressive and sculptural modelling of his figures, the rendering of the features by a few elegant penstrokes and the three-dimensional manner in which he captures the light as it plays on the bodies and robes – all hallmarks of his style – are evident in the present miniature. There is only one documented manuscript by Honoré: a copy of Gratian’s Decretals, now Tours, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 588, and only a handful of manuscripts can be confidently attributed to Honoré and his circle: among these are a volume of Gratian’s Concordantia Discordantium in the Statni Archiv in Olomouc in the Czech Republic (ms. no. C.D. 39, published by A. Melnikas, The Corpus of Miniatures in the Manuscripts of Decretum Gratiani, 1975), of which a leaf with a miniature depicting a Priest renouncing his benefice was sold at Christie's for £50,000 on 1 December 2015, lot 8 (on which see P. Kidd, McCarthy Collection, III, no 51); a Gospel Lectionary, British Library, add. ms. 17341; The Breviary of Philip the Good, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 1023; Somme le Roy, British Library, Add. ms. 541806; the Bible of Jean de Papeleu, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, ms. 5059; and two leaves at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (Ms. 192 et Ms. 368). The present miniature is an exceptional example of his work, and of the best Parisian illumination at the turn of the 14th century.
The historiated initial with the Fool opening Psalm 52 is on f.35v.
Psalter, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris, final quarter 13th century]
A charming Psalter from the turn of the 14th century containing an exquisite and arresting miniature by one of the greatest figures in French book painting: the Maître Honoré.
134 x 94mm. viii (paper) + 148 + i (paper) leaves, 18 lines, illuminated initials with flourishing extending into borders opening the Psalms, red and blue penwork initials throughout, rubrics in red, illuminated line fillers, one large historiated initial (misbound and lacking perhaps 30 leaves, including 7 with historiated initials for major divisions of the the Psalter at Psalms 1, 26, 38, 68, 80, 97 and 109, small horizontal tear at f.139, occasional marginal thumbing and cockling). 19th-century red morocco gilt (edges lightly scuffed).
Provenance: Psalms and prayers to be said on Sundays have been added in a 19th-century hand: the same hand annotates the Psalter throughout. Faded and illegible inscriptions in pencil on upper board and opening flyleaf; inventory number '3609' on final endleaf.
Content: Psalms to be read on Sundays, and other prayers, in a 19th-century hand ff. i-viii; Psalter ff.1-148v, misbound, opening with Psalm 32 and ending with Psalms 2-19.
Illumination: Born in Amiens and in the employ of Philip the Fair from 1288, Maître Honoré was deeply influential in the evolution of late 13th- and early 14th-century French manuscript illumination. The expressive and sculptural modelling of his figures, the rendering of the features by a few elegant penstrokes and the three-dimensional manner in which he captures the light as it plays on the bodies and robes – all hallmarks of his style – are evident in the present miniature. There is only one documented manuscript by Honoré: a copy of Gratian’s Decretals, now Tours, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 588, and only a handful of manuscripts can be confidently attributed to Honoré and his circle: among these are a volume of Gratian’s Concordantia Discordantium in the Statni Archiv in Olomouc in the Czech Republic (ms. no. C.D. 39, published by A. Melnikas, The Corpus of Miniatures in the Manuscripts of Decretum Gratiani, 1975), of which a leaf with a miniature depicting a Priest renouncing his benefice was sold at Christie's for £50,000 on 1 December 2015, lot 8 (on which see P. Kidd, McCarthy Collection, III, no 51); a Gospel Lectionary, British Library, add. ms. 17341; The Breviary of Philip the Good, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 1023; Somme le Roy, British Library, Add. ms. 541806; the Bible of Jean de Papeleu, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, ms. 5059; and two leaves at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (Ms. 192 et Ms. 368). The present miniature is an exceptional example of his work, and of the best Parisian illumination at the turn of the 14th century.
The historiated initial with the Fool opening Psalm 52 is on f.35v.
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