PHILLIP J. PIRAGES Fine Books and Manuscripts 17091709 NENE 27th27th Street, SuiteSuite G G McMinnville,McMinnville, OROR 9712897128 (503)(503) 472-0476 www.pirages.comwww.pirages.com
[email protected]@pirages.com A Selection of Items for Go to firstslondon.com to view One of the Most Beautiful Miniatures We Have Ever Offered for Sale 1. AN ILLUMINATED VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF FROM A BOOK OF HOURS, WITH AN OUTSTANDING MINIATURE OF ST. SEBASTIAN. TEXT FROM SUFFRAGES, WITH A PRAYER IN FRENCH INVOKING PROTECTION AGAINST THE PLAGUE. (France [perhaps Rennes?]: ca. 1435) 180 x 140 mm. (7 1/8 x 5 1/2”). Single column, verso with 14 lines in a large, fine gothic hand. Matted. Capitals struck with yellow, verso with a line-ender in pink, blue, and gilt with white tracery, recto with a four-line initial in blue with delicate white tracery on gilt ground and filled with red and blue leaves, A FULL BORDER of dense rinceau decoration, the penwork vines terminating in gilt bezants and red and blue flowers, each corner with a different flowering plant, including strawberries and red, blue, or pink flowers, A HALF PAGE MINIATURE DEPICTING THE ATTEMPTED MARTYRDOM OF ST. SEBASTIAN, framed in gilt and with an additional three-quarter frame of gold and blue bars surrounding the text and miniature. See: Walters II, 108; Diane E. Booton, “Manuscript, Market, and the Transition to Print in Late Medieval Brittany,” pp. 53-58. Margins trimmed a little close to the border, one corner with just a hint of soiling and one small flower rubbed away, some of the gold bezants faintly dulled, but THE MINIATURE IN IMMACULATE CONDITION, seemingly as fresh and richly hued as the day it was painted.