ZURICH.- During their six-day series of auctions from 14 – 19 September, Koller Auctions will offer an important private collection of Italian miniatures.

Estimated at 1 million Swiss francs ($1.06 million), this collection consists of over sixty of the finest examples of Italian manuscript illumination from the 13th – 15th centuries. Meticulously assembled over three decades by a passionate collector, it features works by important masters from Bologna, Siena, Florence, Venice, Padua and other centers of production, including Andrea di Bartolo, Cristoforo Cortese, Giovanni di Paolo, and Neri da Rimini.

The auction will be accompanied by a catalogue destined to become a collector’s item in itself. Compiled by Prof. Gaudenz Freuler of the Kunsthistorisches Institut, University of Zurich, each miniature is placed within its regional and stylistic context, with a full description and documented provenance. The catalogue also contains a fascinating history of Italian manuscript illumination.

From a Swiss private collection, «The Annunciation» by Leonardo di Bernardino da Pistoia (CHF 400 000/600 000; $425 000/650 000) is one of the highlights of this auction. For decades this painting – the only signed work known by the artist – was hidden in Spanish private collection, and was only recently rediscovered. A professional cleaning has now revealed the excellent condition of this work. Bernardino da Pistoia was the brother of the well-known artist Fra'Paolino da Pistoia (1490-1547). Both trained under their father, Bernardino del Signoraccio. Very few works by Bernardino da Pistoia are known: a «Saint Irene» was auctioned in London in 1899; a «Sacra Conversazione» is conserved in the church of Santa Maria Assunta in Lizzano, as well as a fresco in the church of Santa Maria a Ripalta in Pistoia.

Another highlight of this auction is «Karnevalstreiben in der Bauernstube» by Pieter Brueghel the Younger (CHF 1.5/2.5 million; $1.6/2.6 million). The painting, which depicts Flemish folk celebrating the feast of the Three Kings held on 6 January each year, is a rarity in the work of Brueghel. Its provenance is also noteworthy: originally from the Richter collection in Germany, it was confiscated by the East German government, and hung in the Dresden Gemäldegalerie for almost 50 years before being restituted to the Richters in 2002. Brueghel expert Klaus Ertz was finally able to inspect the painting firsthand in 2005, and certified it as an original work by Pieter Brueghel the Younger.

Of historical importance is a painting of a battle scene recently rediscovered in a German private collection, «The Battle of Papa on 12 June 1809», by Albrecht Adam (CHF 130 000/180 000; $145 000/190 000). This painting was ordered in 1841 by Maximilian II, Duke of Leuchtenberg (1817-1852) on the occasion of his marriage in 1839 to Maria Nikolajewna, the eldest daughter of Czar Nicholas I for the Mariinski Palace in St. Petersburg directly from the artist as part of a series of 16 works representing the battles of his father, Eugène de Beauharnais (1781- 1824). Through inheritance, it belonged to Maximilian's son, Nikolaus Maximilianowitsch, until 1891, and then to the latter's son Georg (1872 - 1929), 10th Duke of Leuchtenberg, who fled from Russia in 1905 to Castle Seeon in upper Bavaria. In 1935 the painting was auctioned and purchased by the German private collection in which Koller's specialists recently discovered it. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that this painting illustrates the artist's detachment from traditional Baroque representations of battle scenes. Its artistic finesse, impressive rendering of details, historical accuracy as well as its masterful composition make this work an important historical monument.