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LOT 169

[Manuscript] ─ [Saint Michael, Order of] [Manuscrit Enluminé]. Livre de l'ordre de trescrestien roy de France. France, Paris, entre 1483 et 1498.

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[Manuscript] ─ [Saint Michael, Order of]
Livre de l’ordre de trescrestien roy de France Loys XI a l’onneur de Monsieur Saint Michel [Statutes of the Order of Saint Michael].
France, Paris, circa 1494-1495 (necessarily after 1483 and before 1498)

Manuscript copied for Louis of Orléans (1462-1515), future King Louis XII.

In French, illuminated manuscript on parchment.

With one half-page miniature, 3 historiated initials, one full illuminated and historiated border attributable to the Master of Jacques de Besançon (François le Barbier fils) and the Master of Robert Gaguin.

49 ff., preceded and followed by one parchment rules flyleaf, ruled parchment pastedowns [collation : i9 (of 10, likely missing i), ii8, iii8, iv8, v8, vi8], some catchwords (e.g. f. 17v, 25v, 33v, 41v), text on fol. 49v interrupted (clearly unfinished), written in an elegant bâtarde script, in brown ink, on up to 28 lines, rubrics and Roman numerals in red, line-fillers in blue and/or dark red highlighted in gold or wood branches or sticks, small 1- to 2-line high initials or paragraph marks in liquid gold on alternating grounds of blue, dark red or maroon grounds, larger initial (4-line high) in red with liquid gold ornamentation with a heraldic crest (three fleur-de-lis, arms of France) (fol. 39v), three historiated initials (ff. 5v, 31v, 49v), in dark red with ornamentation of acanthus leaves in liquid gold on blue grounds highlighted in white, one full illuminated and historiated border (fol. 5v), margins decorated in geometrical compartments with lozenges of floreate ornament, and repeated gold fleur-de-lis on blue grounds, standing figure in the lefthand margin (Louis of Orléans, in heraldic armor) and arms of Louis of Orléans set with the Collar of the Order of Saint Michael in the bottom margin, one half-page arch-topped miniature (fol. 39v).

Bound in a reddish-brown polished calf, spine sewn on 4 raised bands, fleurons tooled in blind in compartments, small circular ornaments tooled in blind on raised bands, boards with double frame of blind-tooled ornaments, edges gilt (scratches to boards, some loss of leather and rubbing to raised bands; some staining to a few leaves, tears to parchment in lower margins (fol. 1 and fol. 9)). Dimensions of leaves : 230 x 165 mm; dimensions of binding : 242 x 175 mm.

Manuscript published in Avril and Reynaud, 1993, p. 351 : "On conserve le livret personnel des Statuts peints par Jean Fouquet pour Louis XI lors de la fondation de l’Ordre en 1469 (no. 72). Un autre exemplaire officiel et luxueux mais d’inspiration plus impersonnelle (Vienne, ÖNB, Cod. 2637) a été historié et enluminé sans aucun doute pour Charles VIII par le Maître de Jacques de Besançon, au cours d’une campagne de livrets probablement mise en œuvre autour de 1494-1495 par le libraire Antoine Vérard dont il était l’enlumineur favori, selon des modèles identiques d’écriture et très voisins de décor… Un exemplaire tout à fait proche (New York, PML, M. 20), fait pour Pierre de Bourbon, appartient à cette série, de même que l’exemplaire de Louis d’Orléans avant son accession au trône (coll. part.) et qu’un certain nombre de livrets préparés avec l’écu laissé en blanc pour un destinataire éventuel (Arsenal, MS. 5100)".

This illuminated copy of the Statutes of the Order of Saint Michael, founded by King Louis XI in 1469, was made for Louis of Orléans, future King Louis XII and is personalized with a standing figure representing Louis of Orléans in heraldic armor and his arms in the full page illuminated and historiated border (fol. 5v). It is part of a series of similar manuscripts of the Statutes of the Order of Saint Michael made circa 1494/1495, under the supervision of Antoine Vérard, for the knights of high stature and close to regal circles.

Monarchical orders or royal orders were created to ensure the loyalty of the knights to the king by serving as an ingenious supplement to the feudo-vassalic ties that once bound the leading members of the nobility to their sovereign. In addition, they were important as expressions of the secular ideals of chivalry that were at the heart of the court culture during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. The Order of Saint Michael was founded by King Louis XI : "pour la très spéciale et singulière amour que nous avons au noble ordre et état de chevalerie, pour la défense de notre sainte mère l’église et la prospérité de la chose publique" [for the very special and singular love that we have for the noble order and state of chivalry, for the defence of our holy mother church and the prosperity of the commonwealth], and more pragmatically, to serve as the French equivalent of the Order of the Golden Fleece founded in 1430 by Philip the Good. Originally, there were thirty-six knights; fifteen were appointed personally by the king in 1469. The first knights were among the most powerful men in France, including close relatives of the king and a few from other royal houses in Europe, and it was...

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[Manuscript] ─ [Saint Michael, Order of]
Livre de l’ordre de trescrestien roy de France Loys XI a l’onneur de Monsieur Saint Michel [Statutes of the Order of Saint Michael].
France, Paris, circa 1494-1495 (necessarily after 1483 and before 1498)

Manuscript copied for Louis of Orléans (1462-1515), future King Louis XII.

In French, illuminated manuscript on parchment.

With one half-page miniature, 3 historiated initials, one full illuminated and historiated border attributable to the Master of Jacques de Besançon (François le Barbier fils) and the Master of Robert Gaguin.

49 ff., preceded and followed by one parchment rules flyleaf, ruled parchment pastedowns [collation : i9 (of 10, likely missing i), ii8, iii8, iv8, v8, vi8], some catchwords (e.g. f. 17v, 25v, 33v, 41v), text on fol. 49v interrupted (clearly unfinished), written in an elegant bâtarde script, in brown ink, on up to 28 lines, rubrics and Roman numerals in red, line-fillers in blue and/or dark red highlighted in gold or wood branches or sticks, small 1- to 2-line high initials or paragraph marks in liquid gold on alternating grounds of blue, dark red or maroon grounds, larger initial (4-line high) in red with liquid gold ornamentation with a heraldic crest (three fleur-de-lis, arms of France) (fol. 39v), three historiated initials (ff. 5v, 31v, 49v), in dark red with ornamentation of acanthus leaves in liquid gold on blue grounds highlighted in white, one full illuminated and historiated border (fol. 5v), margins decorated in geometrical compartments with lozenges of floreate ornament, and repeated gold fleur-de-lis on blue grounds, standing figure in the lefthand margin (Louis of Orléans, in heraldic armor) and arms of Louis of Orléans set with the Collar of the Order of Saint Michael in the bottom margin, one half-page arch-topped miniature (fol. 39v).

Bound in a reddish-brown polished calf, spine sewn on 4 raised bands, fleurons tooled in blind in compartments, small circular ornaments tooled in blind on raised bands, boards with double frame of blind-tooled ornaments, edges gilt (scratches to boards, some loss of leather and rubbing to raised bands; some staining to a few leaves, tears to parchment in lower margins (fol. 1 and fol. 9)). Dimensions of leaves : 230 x 165 mm; dimensions of binding : 242 x 175 mm.

Manuscript published in Avril and Reynaud, 1993, p. 351 : "On conserve le livret personnel des Statuts peints par Jean Fouquet pour Louis XI lors de la fondation de l’Ordre en 1469 (no. 72). Un autre exemplaire officiel et luxueux mais d’inspiration plus impersonnelle (Vienne, ÖNB, Cod. 2637) a été historié et enluminé sans aucun doute pour Charles VIII par le Maître de Jacques de Besançon, au cours d’une campagne de livrets probablement mise en œuvre autour de 1494-1495 par le libraire Antoine Vérard dont il était l’enlumineur favori, selon des modèles identiques d’écriture et très voisins de décor… Un exemplaire tout à fait proche (New York, PML, M. 20), fait pour Pierre de Bourbon, appartient à cette série, de même que l’exemplaire de Louis d’Orléans avant son accession au trône (coll. part.) et qu’un certain nombre de livrets préparés avec l’écu laissé en blanc pour un destinataire éventuel (Arsenal, MS. 5100)".

This illuminated copy of the Statutes of the Order of Saint Michael, founded by King Louis XI in 1469, was made for Louis of Orléans, future King Louis XII and is personalized with a standing figure representing Louis of Orléans in heraldic armor and his arms in the full page illuminated and historiated border (fol. 5v). It is part of a series of similar manuscripts of the Statutes of the Order of Saint Michael made circa 1494/1495, under the supervision of Antoine Vérard, for the knights of high stature and close to regal circles.

Monarchical orders or royal orders were created to ensure the loyalty of the knights to the king by serving as an ingenious supplement to the feudo-vassalic ties that once bound the leading members of the nobility to their sovereign. In addition, they were important as expressions of the secular ideals of chivalry that were at the heart of the court culture during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. The Order of Saint Michael was founded by King Louis XI : "pour la très spéciale et singulière amour que nous avons au noble ordre et état de chevalerie, pour la défense de notre sainte mère l’église et la prospérité de la chose publique" [for the very special and singular love that we have for the noble order and state of chivalry, for the defence of our holy mother church and the prosperity of the commonwealth], and more pragmatically, to serve as the French equivalent of the Order of the Golden Fleece founded in 1430 by Philip the Good. Originally, there were thirty-six knights; fifteen were appointed personally by the king in 1469. The first knights were among the most powerful men in France, including close relatives of the king and a few from other royal houses in Europe, and it was...

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12 Oct 2022
France, Paris
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