The Balliol Book of Hours by the Master of Jacques II de Châtillon: an Unknown Manuscript from Amiens with 13 Stunning Miniatures
Book of Hours. Illuminated manuscript on vellum with 13 large miniatures by the Master of Jacques II de Chastillon (or Châtillon). Amiens, around 1430. 231 leaves. Wide margins, apparently uncut and complete with the exception of two leaves. 202 x 140 mm. Bound in red velvet over the old wooden boards with brass fittings and large clasp, perhaps Italian around 1800.
The purpose of this Book of Hours for Amiens is already clear from the text. The book decoration and painting fit in perfectly with what is known of the production there. The way in which the Parisian heritage is presented in a new guise reveals the turning point of the Ars nova of the Old Netherlanders and an outstanding artist: the Master of Jacques II de Chastillon or simply the Châtillon Master in the second quarter of the 15th century. Preserved with wide margins and no traces of use at all, although it was used in later generations as a family book (livre de raison), this manuscript with its 450 text leaves surrounded by three quarter borders of ivy leaves, proves to be a remarkable example of the combination of high art and revealing history: according to the coats of arms, this manuscript was made for the Picardy-Scottish Bailleul family, better known as Balliol, which maintained one of the oldest Oxford colleges and produced two kings of Scotland. Later, Diane de Mailloc wrote in her widow's grief over her deceased husband and sons. The ravishing paintings with their sophisticated border decoration remained in mint condition.
For more information, please see our catalogue No. 71, Tour de France, lot 15.
Book Illumination in Amiens
The few, but in most cases very impressive examples of early 15th century Amiens book illumination that have survived have been researched by Susie Nash in particular. With her book Between France and Flanders. Manuscript Illumination in Amiens, London and Toronto 1999, the English art historian has created the basis for an overview of the period from the succession of the Parisian illuminators of the Berry period to the appearance of the Master of the Dresden Prayer Book. In doing so, she has greatly differentiated what at first glance appears to be a stylistically homogeneous collection, recognising a whole number of hands and thus separating several groups of works that had previously hardly been outlined.
Annunciation to the Virgin in the Châtillon Hours, NAL 3231, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.
In 1999, Mrs. Nash was already familiar through illustrations with the Heures de Jacques II de Chastillon which were acquired two years later by the Bibliothèque nationale de Paris as NAL 3231 for a huge sum. This was quickly followed by issue 2 of Art de l'enluminure (2002) with a monograph by Susie Nash. In the course of description, the Master of Jacques II of Chastillon came to light, who, if we follow the author, was involved in the Châtillon Book of Hours together with the Master of Lamoignon, the Master of Walters 281 and the Master of Raoul d’Ailly. The Master who painted most of the miniatures, among them the Annunciation to the Virgin there created our Book of Hours as a work entirely in his own hand.
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