NEW YORK, NY.- In the Middle Ages, as today, public areas in civic centers often mounted Christmas tableau of the Nativity story. The statues have fully delineated faces and doll-like bodies, because they were dressed up each year in period costume.
Les Enluminures is bringing two such sculpture from Lombardy. The first is a mannequin of St. Joseph by the De Donati brothers, sculptors active for the princely Sforza family. The second is a polychromed giraffe from the same group; the exotic animal is often included in Nativity scenes accompanying the Magi, who came from foreign regions to adore the Christ Child.
Les Enluminures has published a series of important jewelry books since 2007. It brings to the Winter Show a few examples of rings from its most recent publication “The Fashioned Hand” that features some twenty rings from antiquity to the present day. One such example is a marvelous and important emerald and ruby enameled ring from the French Renaissance that has come down to us through some of the most prestigious collections.
Founded by Dr. Sandra Hindman more than twenty-five years ago and with locations in Paris, Chicago, and New York, Les Enluminures has forged long-standing relationships with major museums and prestigious private collections throughout the world. It exhibits at TEFAF Maastricht, TEFAF New York, Masterpiece, and Frieze Masters. The gallery is well-known for the level of its scholarship but also for the diversity, high quality, and provenance of the works it offers for sale.
Sandra Hindman states: “We are delighted to be returning to the Winter Show after a brief hiatus due to other commitments. It has consistently been one of our most successful venues, and we look forward to this year with much enthusiasm.”
Les Enluminures will be exhibiting a variety of art works at the Winter Show, including Books of Hours, sculpture, and medieval and Renaissance jewelry. A newly issued catalogue, “Medieval Must-Haves: The Book of Hours,” will be published on the occasion of the Winter Show. It includes eighteen Books of Hours from France and The Netherlands, the centers that produced at least eighty percent of all Books of Hours during the Middle Ages. The Book of Hours was truly the medieval best-seller. Children learned to read from them, they were offered as dowry and wedding presents, they were passed down through generations in families at all levels of society. Sparking with gold leaf and illustrated with many pictures, these Books of Hours survive as captivating artistic expressions of daily medieval life. Prices start at $30,000.
Highlights:
BOOK OF HOURS (USE OF PARIS)
In French and Latin, illuminated manuscript, on parchment
France, Paris, c. 1400-1405
15 large miniatures by the Master of the Bible Historiale MS fr. 159
Fol. 110, Female Donor (Jeanne?) with Patron Saint St. John the Baptist before the Virgin and Child
This beautifully executed Parisian Book of Hours was painted just when Paris was establishing itself as the center of book illumination. The miniatures are attributed to one of the artists responsible for a manuscript of the Bible Historiale (Paris, BnF MS fr. 159) that was recorded in the possession of the Duke of Berry in 1402. $450,000
BOOK OF HOURS (USE OF SARUM)
In Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment
Southern Netherlands, Bruges, c. 1405-1415
12 miniatures by the Master of the Beaufort Saints and associates
Fol. 10v, St. Christopher
This manuscript is remarkable as an early example of a Book of Hours made in Bruges for export to the English market. English manuscripts are of great rarity because of the ferocity of the Protestant Reformation. This one can be traced from its origin through nearly two centuries in prominent families in England, sometimes women, sometimes men, members of Parliament, some of whom were also close to the royal family. The fine illumination reveals the subtle plasticity and northern realism of painting before Jan van Eyck, also of Bruges. $150,000
MANNEQUIN OF ST. JOSEPH
Giovan Pietro de Donati and Giovanni Ambrogio de Donati (attributed to)
Wood with Polychrome 56.5 x 16 x 10 cm.
Italy, Lombardy, 1480-1490
This unique and captivating object is a wooden mannequin that formed part of a larger group of characters that belonged to a crib or Nativity scene. Figures like this with movable parts were displayed during the Christmas season often in processions, when they were dressed in period costume. The style of this carving suggests the De Donati brothers, a prolific workshop of sculpture in Milan under the Sforza. (A giraffe by the same sculptors and from the same group will also be displayed, not illustrated here).
$55,000
RENAISSANCE ENAMELED RING SET WITH EMERALDS AND RUBIES HELD BY STAGS
Western Europe (France?), c. 1550-1600
Gold, enamel, emeralds, rubies
Weight 7.2 gr.; US size 8; UK size Q
Seen from the top, six table-cut rubies create a cross formation that surrounds the raised bezel composed of two addorsed stags cradling a cabochon emerald with their antlers. There is blue strapwork and pale green miniature apples. The shoulders are also richly enameled. This remarkable Renaissance ring displays all the characteristics of opulent goldsmith work of the period. As the emblem of Diane de Poitiers, mistress of King Henry II, the stag is in keeping with the spirit of the Fontainebleau court. For this reason, and based on the sources of the design, the ring is probably French. It has a prestigious provenance, from the 19th-century collection of the noted ring collector Ernst Guilhou to the 20th-century collections of Ralph Harari and Diana Scarisbrick. $210,000
