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Details
FERDINAND III (King of Hungary, Holy Roman Emperor, 1637-1657). Grant of arms, issued and signed by Ferdinand III in favour of John Voykffy of Klokocz and Voikovich, Vienna, 3 June 1655, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, in Latin, 300 x 250 mm. Nine leaves, blanks, 25 lines per page written in black ink in an accomplished italic hand; justification: 220 x 175mm, signed by the Emperor on the last page and countersigned by George Szelepcheny, Bishop of Nitra and John Puchkay, Archbishop of Colocza. TWO FULL-PAGE MINIATURES, one portrait and one armorial, burnished gold display lettering on first page. Stitched with silk cords, original vellum covers (detached and worn).
The miniatures, in full colour, are as follows:
f.1 A portrait of John Voykffy in an oval inscribed frame above a cartouche containing a four-line inscription, flanked by allegorical figures (Fame, with her trumpet and a scroll reading 'Vivit Numine et Nomine', and War, holding a sword and the severed head of a Turk, with a scroll reading 'Pro deo et patria pugnans'). The inscription reads:
'VOIKVIUS ILLYRII quonda[m] celeberrim[us]
Terror Turcarum; gloria gentis erat.
Posthumus, hac propriu[m] praefert in imagine vultu[m]
Maior at in gestis extat imago suis'
f.2 An armorial frontispiece with the arms of John Voykffy surrounded by four putti, each bearing a further coat of arms, lit with liquid gold.
The justification for the grant of arms describes the heroic deeds of both John Voykffy and his father who, in the great Turco-Hungarian war of 1591-1593, was captured, imprisoned, and tortured in Constantinople, then ransomed, eventually dying after the battle for the fortress of Moszlavina. Voykffy the younger took part in numerous engagements against the Turks in Croatia, Slovenia and Dalmatia, including Sisak, Kris, Kostajnica and Dubicz, capturing the enemy commander Mustapha Aga on the banks of the Sava, and finally distinguishing himself in 1640 when, with his small band of men, he crossed the Drava on ice and saved the citadel of Legrad.
The lot includes 4 other documents relating to the family of Voykffy. (5)
The miniatures, in full colour, are as follows:
f.1 A portrait of John Voykffy in an oval inscribed frame above a cartouche containing a four-line inscription, flanked by allegorical figures (Fame, with her trumpet and a scroll reading 'Vivit Numine et Nomine', and War, holding a sword and the severed head of a Turk, with a scroll reading 'Pro deo et patria pugnans'). The inscription reads:
'VOIKVIUS ILLYRII quonda[m] celeberrim[us]
Terror Turcarum; gloria gentis erat.
Posthumus, hac propriu[m] praefert in imagine vultu[m]
Maior at in gestis extat imago suis'
f.2 An armorial frontispiece with the arms of John Voykffy surrounded by four putti, each bearing a further coat of arms, lit with liquid gold.
The justification for the grant of arms describes the heroic deeds of both John Voykffy and his father who, in the great Turco-Hungarian war of 1591-1593, was captured, imprisoned, and tortured in Constantinople, then ransomed, eventually dying after the battle for the fortress of Moszlavina. Voykffy the younger took part in numerous engagements against the Turks in Croatia, Slovenia and Dalmatia, including Sisak, Kris, Kostajnica and Dubicz, capturing the enemy commander Mustapha Aga on the banks of the Sava, and finally distinguishing himself in 1640 when, with his small band of men, he crossed the Drava on ice and saved the citadel of Legrad.
The lot includes 4 other documents relating to the family of Voykffy. (5)
Special notice
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