Catalog Archive
Auction 122, Lot 863

"[Book of Hours Leaf]", Kerver, Thielman

Subject: Early Printing

Period: 1507 (circa)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
4.3 x 6.7 inches
10.9 x 17 cm
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Superb vellum leaf from this important transitional period when books began to be printed from movable type, decorated with metal-cut illustrations and combined with hand-painted illuminated initials. The text on the recto is surrounded with illustrations depicting scenes from the Old and New Testament with the captions in red. These pictures explain the relation between the Old Testament and the Life of Christ. On the verso is a Gothic illustration of the Coronation of the Virgin by Jesus Christ as she enters Heaven with legions of angels by her side. Thielman Kerver was a printer in Paris, who worked "in vico sancti Iacobi ad signum Vnicornis & ibidem venales habent" (in Saint Jacob's lane under the sign of the Unicorn where they are also for sale). Kerver's work is much less common than that of his colleague, Simon Vostre.

References:

Condition: A

Estimate: $275 - $350

Sold for: $200

Closed on 12/5/2007

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