[Illuminated manuscript, 20th c.]. Illuminated bifeuillet on - Lot 24

[Illuminated manuscript, 20th c.]. Illuminated bifeuillet on parchment, Northern Europe, 20th c. Parchment, ink, gold and pigments, 36 × 24.5 cm. The author of this intriguing document drew his inspiration from a famous manuscript held between the British Library in London (Add. 36 684) and the Morgan Library in New York (ms. 754): the Saint-Omer Book of Hours. This manuscript, copied in the Thérouanne region between 1318 and 1325, was dismembered at an unknown date. In 1925, a facsimile of the second part was published under the title Heures de Marguerite de Beaujeu by Veuve Théophile Belin, four years before J.-P. Morgan acquired it from a New York bookseller. This bifeuillet does not reproduce any of the folios preserved to date in London and New York, but draws on several elements to offer an original, if somewhat heterogeneous, synthesis. The left-hand folio contains a litany featuring the name of Saint Denis, highlighted in gold. The margins, richly decorated in imitation of the original manuscript, feature a falconer and a bust of the saint. On the right-hand folio, an architectural decor spiked with pinnacles and bays opens onto the martyrdom of Saint Denis, surrounded by two angels and a kneeling crowd. Beneath a three-lobed bay crowned with a lily, a female figure in prayer alludes to the supposed patron of the Hours of Saint-Omer, whom the Widow Th. Belin had associated with Marguerite de Beaujeu. The painter has taken care to imitate the knots and interlacing that characterize architectural ornamentation, as well as the blue, red and gold tile pavements that form the background to the scenes. In the margins, two chimeras battle, while an archer's arrow aims at a dragon perched atop a scroll. This original, skilfully executed piece testifies to its creator's taste for medieval illumination and a certain knowledge of ancient collections.