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Detailed record for Yates Thompson 34
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| Title |
Epistolary of the Sainte-Chapelle, Use of Paris |
| Origin |
France, Central (Paris) |
| Date |
2nd or 3rd quarter of the 14th century |
| Language |
Latin |
| Script |
Gothic |
| Artists |
Miniatures attributed to Jean le Noir, initials attributed to Jaquet Maci. |
| Decoration |
8 historiated initials, accompanied by full foliate borders, in colours and gold (ff. 1, 13, 15, 84, 99v, 108v, 116v (x2)). Large puzzle initials in gold and blue, with pen-flourishing in blue (and red) and red (and blue), developing decorated extensions with fleur-de-lys, 1 developing a full border of extensions with fleur-de-lys at the beginning of the Commune sanctorum (f. 202). Smaller initials in gold or blue with pen-flourishing in blue (and red) or in red (and blue). Numerous flourished initials with a heraldic eagle in the centre. Small initials in gold or blue with penwork decoration in blue (and red) or red (and blue). Line-fillers decorated in gold and blue or red and blue, partly with fleur-de-lys. |
| Dimensions in mm |
415 x 290 (280 x 180) |
| Official foliation |
ff. vii + 223 (+ 1 paper and 2 parchment flyleaves at the beginning, and 4 paper flyleaves at the end) |
| Collation |
i-xiii8 (ff. 1-104), xiv8-1 (8th leaf excised; ff. 105-111), xv-xxviii8 (ff. 112-223). |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. English dark blue morocco, c. 1836? (end papers with watermark of 1836), with gold tooling; gilt edges. |
| Provenance |
The epistolary forms a liturgical ensemble with two other manuscripts, an evangeliary (Paris, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, MS 161), and a missal (Lyon, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 5122).
Adapted for the use of the Sainte-Chapelle shortly after it was made: two additions of typical feasts of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris (ff. 179v, 194v); mentioned in its inventory and described with the evangeliary (Paris, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, MS 161) in 1363 [annotations to the inventory of 1349) and 1368-77 (see Alexandre Vidier, 'Le trésor de la Sainte-Chapelle', Mémoires de la Société de l'Histoire de Paris et de l'Ile-de-France, 34 (1907), 199-324 (no. 8 p. 231, no. 309 p. 260).
? Probably made for the treasurer, Simon de Braelle, if the missal (Lyon, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 5122) is identical with the missal mentioned in the Sainte-Chapelle inventory entry for 1349 (see Vidier 1907 no. 7 p. 231); all three manuscripts are described in the 1480 inventory of the Sainte-Chapelle in the same chapter 'Sequuntur libri inventi in parvis almariolis subtus magnis almariolis reliquiarum', with similiar bindings of red silk for the missal, and green for the evangeliary and the epistolary (see Vidier 1907 nos. 518, 521, 522 pp. 317-18).
Unidentified owner: included in the anonymous Sotheby's sale ' the property of a gentleman', 27 July 1911, lot 252; bought by Yates Thompson.
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: with his book-plate inscribed '[MS] cii / £aln.e.e [i.e. £495.0.0] / [bought from] Sothebys / [through Bernard] Quaritch / July 27 / 1911' (inside upper cover); in his sale, 22 June 1921, lot 70, but unsold.
Bequeathed to the British Museum in 1941 by Mrs Henry Yates Thompson. |
| Select bibliography |
A Descriptive Catalogue of Fourteen Illuminated Manuscripts (Nos. XCV to CVII and 79A) Completing the Hundred in the Library of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: University Press, 1912), no. CII pp. 59-62.
F. Wormald, 'The Yates Thompson Manuscripts', The British Museum Quarterly 16 (1952), 4-6 (p. 6).
[Derek Howard Turner], Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series V: Fifty Plates (London: British Museum, 1965), no. XXV p. 16, pl. XXV.
Josiah Q. Bennett, 'Portman Square to New Bond Street, or, How to Make Money though Rich', The Book Collector (1967), 323-39 (p. 335).
François Avril, 'Trois manuscrits de l'entourage de Jean Pucelle', Revue de l'Art, 9 (1970), 37-48.
François Avril, 'Un enlumineur ornemaniste parisien de la première moitié du XIVe siècle: Jacobus Mathey (Jaquet Maci?)', Bulletin Monumental, 129 (1971), 249-64 (pp. 250 n. 3, 252, 253, 259, fig. 4).
Millard Meiss, with Sharon Off Dunlap Smith and Elizabeth Home Beaton, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Limbourgs and Their Contemporaries, 2 vols (London: Thames and Hudson, 1974), p. 401.
Les fastes du Gothique: le siècle de Charles V, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais 1981-1982 (Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 1981), p. 316.
Lucy Freemen Sandler, The Psalter of Robert de Lisle (London: Harvey Miller, 1983), p. 107 n. 132.
Charles Sterling, La peinture médiévale à Paris: 1300-1500, 2 vols (Paris: Bibliothèque des Arts, 1987), I, 129.
Janet Backhouse The Illuminated Page: Ten Centuries of Manuscript Painting in the British Library (London: British Library, 1997), no. 101.
Christopher de Hamel, The British Library Guide to Manuscript Illumination: History and Techniques (London: British Library, 2001), pl. 17.
Carra Ferguson O'Meara, Monarchy and Consent: The Coronation Book of Charles V of France, British Library MS Cotton Tiberius B VIII (London: Harvey Miller, 2001), p. 323 n. 149.
Le trésor de la Sainte-Chapelle (Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 2001), pp. 200, 202, no. 53 p. 203.
Scot McKendrick and Kathleen Doyle, Bible Manuscripts: 1400 Years of Scribes and Scripture (London: British Library, 2007), p. 132, fig. 119. |
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f. 1
Paul preaching to the Romans |
f. 1
Paul preaching to the Romans |
f. 1
Penwork initial |
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f. 13
Isaiah speaking |
f. 15
Adoration of the Magi |
f. 58
Puzzle initial |
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f. 84
Resurrection |
f. 84
Resurrection |
f. 84
Flourished initial |
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f. 99v
Ascension |
f. 99v
Ascension |
f. 108v
Pentecost |
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f. 116v
Trinity and Last Supper |
f. 116v
Trinity |
f. 116v
Last Supper |
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f. 169
Puzzle initial |
f. 169
Puzzle initial |
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