Circle of the Maître Honoré

Circle of the Maître Honoré

An Angel hybrid, historiated initial \'A\' cut from an illuminated choirbook on vellum [Paris, c.1290s]

A lively illumination associable with the workshop of one of the greatest figures in French book painting, Maître Honoré.



185 x 158mm. A cutting. Historiated initial \'A\' opening the text for Resurrection Sunday: \'Angelus domini locutus’. 5 lines of text and music on a 4-line stave (text erased on recto, gold a little rubbed, small losses of pigment, verso with remnants of adhesive). Mounted and framed. Provenance: Inscription in pencil ‘27755’ in margin on verso. Another cutting from the same manuscript was in the collection of Neil F. Phillips, Q.C (1924-1997), of Montreal, New York and Virginia, his MS 1189 exhibited at the Ketonah Museum of Art, New York (Benton, ed., Medieval Monsters, 1995, pp.24-25 and fig.67), and subsequently sold at Sotheby\'s, 2 December 1997, lot 64 and again Christie’s, 11 December 2019, lot 204. Two further cuttings: an initial \'B\' and an initial \'D\' are at the Lilly Library in Bloomington, Indiana, indicating that the parent manuscript was broken up by 1913.



The Honoré Group style, characterised by its sculptural compositions, its clean, minimalist lines and stark contrasting colours, can be found in several manuscripts – among which Bibles at Chantilly, Musée Condé, MSS 4–5; Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS. 5056 and a Missal for the royal chapel (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS. lat. 861).