THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN; DAVID PLAYING BELLS; THE PIETA' and THE LAST JUDGEMENT, four leaves from illuminated liturgical manuscripts on vellum [France and Flanders, 1460s and 70s]
THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN; DAVID PLAYING BELLS; THE PIETA' and THE LAST JUDGEMENT, four leaves from illuminated liturgical manuscripts on vellum [France and Flanders, 1460s and 70s]
THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN; DAVID PLAYING BELLS; THE PIETA' and THE LAST JUDGEMENT, four leaves from illuminated liturgical manuscripts on vellum [France and Flanders, 1460s and 70s]
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THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN; DAVID PLAYING BELLS; THE PIETA' and THE LAST JUDGEMENT, four leaves from illuminated liturgical manuscripts on vellum [France and Flanders, 1460s and 70s]
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These lots have been imported from outside the EU … Read more Property from the Estate of Dr. George S. Heyer, Jr. (1930-2015)  
THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN; DAVID PLAYING BELLS; THE PIETA' and THE LAST JUDGEMENT, four leaves from illuminated liturgical manuscripts on vellum [France and Flanders, 1460s and 70s]

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THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN; DAVID PLAYING BELLS; THE PIETA' and THE LAST JUDGEMENT, four leaves from illuminated liturgical manuscripts on vellum [France and Flanders, 1460s and 70s]

Four leaves representing the animated inventiveness of book illumination in France and Flanders.

The Agony in the Garden, opening the Hours of the Virgin in a Book of Hours, use of Sarum [Bruges, c.1460s-1470s]. 192 x 141mm. 17 lines of text on reverse (originally recto), ruled space: 111 x 72mm. In a double-sided frame. The style of the miniature finds its roots firmly in the tradition of the Bruges school of illumination established by Willem Vrelant in the second half of the 15th century. Vrelant was one of the most prolific and commercially successful illuminators working in Flanders at the time, relying on a significant number of assistants and collaborators to fulfil his commissions, several of which, as with the present case, were destined for the English market. The composition of this Agony in the Garden is almost identical to that in another Book of Hours also produced in Bruges in the 1460s, now Free Library of Philadelphia, Widener 3 (the 'John Browne Hours', f.37v).

David playing bells, historiated initial 'E' opening Psalm 80 ('Exultate Deo') on a leaf from a Psalter [Bruges, c.1470]. 124 x 90mm. 16 lines of text, ruled space: 74 x 50mm (tiny losses to burnished gold, text slightly smudged). In a double-sided frame.

The Pieta', opening the prayer 'Doulce dame', in French, in a Book of Hours [Rouen, c.1470s]. 155 x 115mm. 13 lines of text on reverse (originally recto), ruled space: 90 x 65mm (light smudging to upper margin). In a double-sided frame.

The Last Judgement with scenes from the life of David, opening the Seven Penitential Psalms in a Book of Hours [northern France, c.1470]. 160 x 122mm. 15 lines of text, ruled space: 90 x 65mm (small losses of pigment and gold). In a double-sided frame.
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