Master of Étienne Poncher and Master of Jeanne... - Lot 6 - Giquello

Lot 6
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Result : 8 060EUR
Master of Étienne Poncher and Master of Jeanne... - Lot 6 - Giquello
Master of Étienne Poncher and Master of Jeanne Hervez Leaflet from a book of hours, gouache and liquid gold on parchment. Scenes from the life of Adam and Eve: Adam and Eve in Paradise on either side of the tree of temptation (large central illumination); Adam and Eve and the tree of temptation; Adam and Eve driven from Paradise; Adam working; Adam and his children (Cain and Abel)]; Cain and Abel [Cain approaching his brother to kill him (?)]. France, Paris, ca. 1500. Size: 125 x 200 mm (blank sheet on back). Some chipping of paint and some rubbing. On the long right, cut flush with the outer gilt border that frames the scenes. This folio has a compartmentalized layout, with six scenes set in an architectural structure of pilasters and reticulated rosettes. The five scenes in the upper part of the folio are attributable to the Master of Etienne Poncher. This artist owes his name to the bishop of Paris from 1502 to 1519, for whom he illuminated two manuscripts: a pontifical Paris BnF. lat. 956 and a manuscript of the Emperors of Rome and Germany (coll. part. not located; Mensing Amsterdam 1929 sale, cat. 45) (see I. Delaunay, Echanges artistiques entre livres d'heures manuscrits et imprimés produits à Paris (vers 1480-1500), doctoral thesis, Oct. 2000, pp. 289-311). Delaunay counted 24 books of hours by his hand, eleven of which were for use in Paris. The central composition of our leaf is based on the one showing Adam and Eve on either side of the tree of temptation in the Hours for use in Rome (Paris, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, MS 653, fol. 4v). According to I. Delaunay, the hand would be "identifiable with the Master of Étienne Poncher. The painter did not intervene in the initial conception but at the time of the sale of the manuscript. He then retouched the paintings and added double pages, a process he used in many of his own manuscripts..." (Delaunay, 2000, ref. infra, vol. 2, p. 186). The clientele of the Master of ÉTienne Poncher included such noble patrons as Jacqueline de Morainvillers (Poitiers, BM, ms. 53, ca. 1497, date of her marriage), Pierre d'Urfé (Lyon, MS 1402) and Geoffroy de la Croix (Paris, former collection SMAF 92-1). Among the books of hours some have recently come up for sale: Christie's Dec. 1, 2015 lot 21 and Drouot Dec. 17, 2014 lot 164bis, others have appeared at Antiquariat Tenschert (Paris mon amour. 20 Stundenbuch aus Paris 1460-1500, Kat LXXXI, 2008, no. 44, 45). The Master of Étienne Poncher must have apprenticed with the Master of Jacques de Besançon, alias François Barbier, from whom he took several models. We notice him in the Hours of Pixerécourt where he paints diptychs, a process that was fashionable around 1500, which is probably the case here because he paints a sheet of paper on the white recto that was to be inserted into a notebook to make a diptych with the right-hand page. This artist also painted for the prints of the end of the 15th century: we recognize his hand in Sebastian Brant, Nef des folz du monde, Paris, Marnef, 1497 printed by the famous Parisian bookseller Antoine Vérard and intended for Charles VIII (Exhibition, France 1500. Entre Moyen Age et Renaissance, 2010, no. 142; on the Master of Étienne Poncher, see Delaunay, Échanges artistiques entre livres d'heures manuscrits et imprimés produits à Paris (vers 1480-1500), 2000, vol. I, pp. 289-310). Below the first five scenes is a miniature painted by a second Parisian artist, namely the Master of Jeanne Hervez, so named after the Hours for the use of Paris painted for Jeanne Hervez (Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, MS 508). On this manuscript, see Delaunay, 2000, vol. 2, pp. 208-210 and vol. 3, figs. 280-281). The Master of Jeanne Hervez often collaborates with the Master of Étienne Poncher. Provenance: Former Bosch collection
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