Beschreibung:

THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI, in a historiated initial on a cutting from a Gradual, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum[Italy (Pavia), late 15th century]
a cutting, c 90 × 90mm, trimmed to the edges, the initial probably ‘E’(cce advenit) for the feast of the Epiphany (6 January), depicting one of the Three Mago kneeling before the Virgin and Child, while the other two wait their turn, holding their gifts; the reverse with the end of a word, ‘um’ (reproduced in Ferrini and Fogg, 1988 not enough to identify the text) and a part of a four-line stave with music in square notation; areas of loss to blue draperies, and of gold at the extreme edges, but the faces and figures generally in good condition; in a giltwood frame.
PROVENANCEFrom a manuscript certainly broken-up by 1900, as one cutting belonged to Carlo Prayer (cf. lot 55), who died in that year.Bruce Ferrini and Sam Fogg: exhibited with two of the sister-cuttings n London in 1998; bought from Sam Fogg in June 1996 by:The Boehlen Collection, Bern, MS 1500
The oeuvre and style of the illuminator was first defined by Giordana Mariani Canova (1984, pp. 490–91), and expanded by Sandra Hindman with contributions from François Avril (Ferrini & Fogg, 1988), and by Pier Luigi Mulas (2004, 2007). There seems to be considerable variation in the style of these manuscripts, however, and some refinement of groupings may be warranted. A series of eight full leaves listed and described by Pia Palladino (2003, no. 61), for example, are attributed to the same artist but at an early stage in his career, to account for their somewhat different style. Cuttings that do seem to come from the same manuscript as the present ones include:Initial ‘E’. Massacre of the Innocents. Christie's, online sale, 14 December 2020, lot 20Initial ‘E’. A full-length standing saint (apostle?) holding a book. Paris, École des beaux arts, Masson Mn 79Initial ‘O’. A half-length bishop-saint, blessing. Christie’s, 24 June 1987, lot 237 (ill.)Initial ‘S’. A half-length bishop-saint, holding a crozier and a book. Sotheby’s, 6 December 2016, lot 9 (col. ill.)Initial ‘S’. Two half-length saints (Fabian & Sebastian?), arm in arm, each holding a palm of martyrdom, one beardless and holding a sword. Ferrini and Fogg, 1988, no. 16 (col. ill.); later in a private collection, NYC
REFERENCESG. Mariani Canova, ‘La miniatura nei manoscritti liturgici della congregazione di S. Giustina in area padana: opere e contenuti devozionali’, in Riforma della Chiesa, cultura e spiritualità nel Quattrocento veneto, atti del convegno per il VI centenario della nascita di Ludovico Barbo (1382–1443) (Padova, Venezia, Treviso, 19–24 settembre 1982), ed. by G.B.F. Trolese (Cesena, 1984), pp. 475–502 and figs. 24–52.
Bruce Ferrini Rare Books and Sam Fogg Rare Books & Manuscripts, Medieval & Renaissance Miniature Painting, catalogue by S. Hindman of an exhibition held in London, Tokyo, and Nagoya, 1988 and 1989 (Akron, OH, and London, 1988), no. 16 (col. ill.)
P. Palladino, Treasures of a Lost Art: Italian Manuscript Painting of the Middle Ages and Renaissance (New York, 2003), no. 61.
P.L. Mulas, in Dizionario biografico dei miniatori italiani: secoli IX–XVI, ed. by Milvia Bollati (Milan, 2004), pp. 463–64.
P.L. Mulas, ‘Le Maître des Graduels de San Salvatore de Pavie: Enluminures, peintures, xylographies’, Quand la peinture était dans les livres: Mélanges en l’honneur de François Avril, ed. by M. Hofmann and C. Zöhl (Paris, 2007), pp. 223–33.