Medieval Art

Christie’s is looking to repeat its success by making a bumper price for a piece of medieval tomb sculpture in London this summer.

A small Castilian mediaeval alabaster statue of Saint Cecilia playing a portable organ led a strong selection of traditional art and antiques in the Paris pre-Christmas auctions at Hotel Drouot.

The book of hours known as The Rothschild Prayerbook sold for $12m (£7.55m) at Christie’s in New York.

Two more churches have been hit by thieves in the latest of a series of break-ins targeting medieval monuments and carvings.

A new auction record for a medieval work of art was established at Christie's Paris

The British Library has secured the oldest surviving roll of arms in English history after a successful fundraising effort to keep it in the UK. The Dering Roll dates from the last quarter of the 13th century and depicts 324 coats of arms, approximately a quarter of the English baronage during the time of Edward I, making it a vital record for the study of heraldry in medieval England.

AN historic and important medieval scientific instrument, known as the Canterbury Quadrant, has been saved for the nation. St James’s specialist dealers Trevor Philip and Sons have sold the quadrant to the British Museum for £411,250.

A BATTERED old Bible in a strongbox with a woodcut pasted on the inside of the lid was sold with a boxed rosary for £6200 by auctioneer Paul Beighton of Thurcroft, near Rotherham on March 9. Behind it there was quite a story.

The extraordinarily elaborate diptych from c.1350-75, shown here, will be on show at The Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House from January 10 to March 9.

When the Dorchester Fine Art saleroom Duke’s sold two rediscovered panels of Dominican saints by Fra Angelico for £1.7m, it was one of the best documented events outside the London rooms accompanied by months of pre-sale media coverage.

There’s been plenty of speculation about who might have paid £1.7m plus 17.5 per cent premium for the two recently-rediscovered Fra Angelico (c.1395-1455) panels of Dominican saints at Duke’s of Dorchester on April 19.

The subject matter of this mid-14th century gold ground may be unfamiliar to many, but that is no surprise – the treatment is thought to be unique in early Italian painting.

This medieval bronze jug was the talking point of Sotheby’s sale of the contents of Easton Neston last year when it was bought by London dealer Daniel Katz for a premium-inclusive £568,000 against expectations of £60,00-80,000. The rare jug is cast with a slew of insignia including the Royal arms as used between 1340 and 1405, a maker’s mark and the inscription To My Lord Wenlok.

WHAT is billed as the first ever selling exhibition of early Armenian art to be held in a commercial gallery will be mounted by Sam Fogg at 15d Clifford Street, London W1, from September 22 to October 15.

FOR their third biennial exhibition, Blumka Gallery of New York and Kunsthandlung Julius Böhler of Munich join forces for a truly stunning collection of recent acquisitions at Blumka’s premises at 209 East 72nd Street.

The imminent sale at Bloomsbury Book Auctions this Thursday (November 7) will feature a late 15th century French illustrated manuscript of the most important treatise on hunting of the Middle Ages, shown right. Gaston Phébus’ Livre de la Chasse and Livre de l’Ordre de Chevallerie, illuminated manuscript on paper, bound in 17th-century calf, in modern morocco-backed cloth case is estimated at £250,000-300,000.

Medieval illuminated manuscripts are hardly two a penny but religious works such as bibles and books of hours are much more frequently encountered than secular ones.

UK: Christie’s are to sell a selection of works of art from the Wernher Collection, expected to fetch over £10m, as the highlight of their summer season.