De Gros-Carondelet Book of Hours
Flanders around 1480 as well as Burgundy around 1485/1500 Miniature detail: The Devil steals the inkpot from John the Evangelist.
Estimate: € 250.000

Hamburg, 25 April, 2012 (kk) – It is not just rare, it is one-of-a-kind: The De Gros-Carondelet Book of Hours. The top-class vellum manuscript in an outmostly lavish make and of remarkable provenance will be sold by Ketterer Kunst in the auction of Rare Books in Hamburg on 21/22 May.

The well preserved book of hours is a premium historic document from the inner circle of the Burgundian court.
The splendid manuscript, entering the race with an estimate of € 250.000, is captivating with its 22 full-page and six smaller miniatures as well as its remarkable history of origin: Initially made around 1480 for the Burgundian secretary Jean III. De Gros and endowed with illuminations by, among others, Simon Marmion, the Dresden master of prayer books, the book of hours some years later went into the possession of the Burgundian chancellor Jean I. Carondelet.

In context of this presumably politically motivated change of ownership, the 28 miniatures were worked over by a French illuminator and endowed with richly detailed borders. Particularly the remarkably inventive miniatures speak for themselves: Motifs such as the devil stealing the inkpot, the evangelist Matthew leaving splashes of ink around his inkpot and Mark with the angel holding the writing utensils stay in the observer’s mind – regardless whether they come from the original version or whether they were made in context of the overpainting. It is a fascinating synthesis of Flemish and French stylistic elements.

The proof for this unusual history of origin was delivered at the Cologne Institute for Restoration and Conservation through an infrared-reflectography, ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy and a x-ray spectroscopy.

Please find detailed information on this work and other objects in the auction online under www.kettererkunst.com/book.

The De Gros-Carondelet Book of Hours will be called up on 21 May as lot number 6 at around 5 p. m.