Beschreibung:

THE NATIVITY, miniature opening Prime of the Hours of the Virgin on a leaf from the Chester Beatty Book of Hours, Paris, 1408
THE NATIVITY, miniature opening Prime of the Hours of the Virgin on a leaf from the Chester Beatty Book of Hours, Paris, 1408 A ravishing miniature by the Mazarine Master, one of the founding figures of Parisian manuscript illumination, active during the first two decades of the 15th century and responsible for some of the most striking works previously attributed to the Boucicaut Master. The two masters had a decisive influence on French illumination at one of its most resplendent periods, particularly through their interest in depicting three-dimensional space, and worked for the greatest collectors of the age, like the Duc de Berry. 174 x 130mm. Verso with 15 lines of text within full borders (minor loss of pigment, evidence of dampstaining to borders). Framed. Provenance : The leaf was f.34v in the Chester Beatty Book of Hours, one of the few securely dated Books of Hours, written in 1408, the year the bridges were washed away in Paris (f.158 with its colophon: Factum est anno mccccviij quo ceciderunt pontes parisiis was sold at Christie's, The Arcana Collection, Part I, 7 July 2010, lot 22; a similar inscription appears in Bodleian MS. Douce 144). Its original patron apparently had Breton connections (the litany of the intact manuscript included two Breton bishops) – John Boykett Jarman (d.1864): his sale, Sotheby's, 13 June 1864, lot 47 – Edward Arnold: his sale, Sotheby's, 6 May, 1929, lot 240 – Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (1875-1968): his Ms. W. 103. Chester Beatty had most of the miniatures, including this one, separately mounted. Some were dispersed during his lifetime but the present leaf remained in the collection and was sold as lot 58A in the Chester Beatty Sale, Sotheby's 24 June, 1969. Miniatures from the Chester Beatty Hours are now in various private and public collections – John Ballantyne sold at Christie's New York, 22 April 1994, lot 73.