Medieval Prophet Cutting from an Illustrated Manuscript

FLORENCE, ITALY, CIRCA 1470 A.D.

4 1/2 in. (57 grams, 11.4 cm).

Discoid glazed mount with tiered profile, painted miniature of an Old Testament prophet with epigraphic scroll and incomplete Latin inscription reciting 'Hic e Deus tuus..et non estimavi ali...ac illus' [He is your God...and I did not estimate other...and He...' [No Reserve]

Provenance

Private collection, Tuscany, inherited, 1969.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12059-217465.

Literature

Cf. similar in Tóvizi Á., 'Some newly discovered Quattrocento illuminations in Székesfehérvár', in Arte cristiana, 96 (2008), pp.307-12.

Footnotes

The illumination is from a cutting of dismembered codex, likely representing a book of the Old Testament. In 15th century North Italy there were proficient artists realising images on vellum, like the Master of Murano Gradual (active between 1430-1460). The miniature represents an Eastern Prophet, dressed with turban and long coat, maybe Ezekiel, or Abacuc, or even Moses, a prophet linked with the prophecies related to the Messiah.

CONDITION

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LOT 0361