Add MS 6416 art. 5

6416

MINIATURES FROM THE 'SPECULUM HISTORIALE': forty-eight fine miniatures cut from the third volume of a copy of Jean de Vignay's French version of the 'Speculum Historiale' of Vincent of Beauvais; late 14th cent., bef. 1380. Origin: France. The manuscript was written and illuminated in France for King Charles V (d. 1380), and was later owned by Jean, Duc de Berry, who gave it to John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy. The work appears in the catalogues of the library of Philip the Good, and in his catalogue of 1467 the third volume is described as having fifty-five miniatures. The first two volumes were owned by Henry Yates Thompson (Y.T. MSS. 79, 79a). Yates Thompson purchased vol. i at Sotheby's in 1906: vol. ii was in the Ashburnham Library, App. cxlvi, whence it was purchased by Yates Thompson in 1897. Both volumes were purchased by Chester Beatty in 1920, becoming Chester Beatty Western MS. 75. The two volumes were then purchased by the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, at the Chester Beatty sale at Sotheby's, 3 Dec. 1968, lot 20. See: Illustrations from one hundred manuscripts in the library of Henry Yates Thompson (1915), where the three volumes are discussed and twelve miniatures from vol. iii are reproduced, Pls. XIV, XV;- S. de Ricci, Les manuscrits de la collection Henry Yates Thompson (1926), pp. 23-24;- 'Nouvelles acquisitions 1969-71 de Départment des manuscrits', Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes, cxxx (1972), pp. 542-544. The miniatures were found loose by Francis Douce, Keeper of Manuscripts, who was aware they were the property of the British Museum but had no idea of their provenance, and handed to Henry Ellis on Douce's resignation from the Keepership, 1812; see memorandum by Ellis, f. i. The miniatures were placed in Add. 6416 as art. 5 (ff. 8-17), probably soon after the appointment of Frederic Madden to the Manuscripts Department in 1828, see Add. 6416, f. 1*, a contents list to the whole volume in Madden's hand. The miniatures were removed in April 1850, see note by Madden (f. ii) and bound with material of a comparable nature. The miniatures are now freshly mounted so that the text backing the illustrations is visible.

Vellum, and paper (ff. i-iii); ff. iii+49.

Contents:

1. ff. i-iii. Notes on provenance, placing and identification; circa 1812, 1850, 1900.

2. f. 1. Frame in mauve and gold, probably designed as a frontispiece for an album; early 19th cent.

3. ff. 2-49. Forty-eight miniatures.