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The Rochefoucauld Grail is a four-volume 14th-century
Sotheby's Press Release 11 November 2010'Legend of King Arthur on the table for £2m' '' The Times'' 12 November 2010 pg 27 The leaves are about 405 mm by 295 mm, and are written in two columns, by a number of scribes. Two other complete versions of the text are held by the British Library, Add MSS 10292-10294 of c. 1315 and Royal MS 14 E III, both produced by the same team of artists and scribes. The hides of about two hundred cows would have been used in the manuscript's production. A few planks of wood and several yards of string would have been used for the original binding. The four volumes were created in Flanders or Artois, possibly for theOnline images at the Lancelot-Grail Project website
/ref>
The Rochefoucauld Grail
in artdaily.org
The Rochefoucauld Grail
in '' The Guardian'' 11 November 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rochefoucauld Grail 1310s books 14th-century illuminated manuscripts 14th-century books Literary illuminated manuscripts Holy Grail Arthurian literature in French
The Rochefoucauld Grail is a four-volume 14th-century illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...
. Three volumes were formerly Amsterdam, Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, MS 1; the fourth volume is divided between the Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...
in Oxford (MS. Douce 215) and the John Rylands Library in Manchester (Ms Fr. 1). It contains the Lancelot-Grail cycle in French prose, the oldest and most comprehensive surviving version of the legend of King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...
and the Holy Grail.Sotheby’s To Offer the Rochefoucauld GrailSotheby's Press Release 11 November 2010'Legend of King Arthur on the table for £2m' '' The Times'' 12 November 2010 pg 27 The leaves are about 405 mm by 295 mm, and are written in two columns, by a number of scribes. Two other complete versions of the text are held by the British Library, Add MSS 10292-10294 of c. 1315 and Royal MS 14 E III, both produced by the same team of artists and scribes. The hides of about two hundred cows would have been used in the manuscript's production. A few planks of wood and several yards of string would have been used for the original binding. The four volumes were created in Flanders or Artois, possibly for the
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
nobleman Guy VII, Baron de Rochefoucauld, perhaps around the years 1315 to 1325 (based on the dating of similar manuscripts). There are "baronial arms and standard of Rouchfoucauld inserted later (perhaps in fifteenth or sixteenth century)" indicating ownership at that point, and the four volumes may (although there is no evidence for this) have belonged to the Rochefoucauld family until the 18th century, but were dispersed by the 1720s. The three volumes previously in Amsterdam were acquired in two separate purchases by the 19th-century English antiquary
An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...
and book collector Sir Thomas Phillipps
Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1st Baronet (2 July 1792 – 6 February 1872), was an English antiquary and book collector
Book collecting is the collecting of books, including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, ...
and have subsequently been sold twice. Dr. Timothy Bolton of Sotheby's said of the ex-Amsterdam volumes, "It is a monumental format, with 107 miniatures, each a dazzling jewel of early Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
illumination. The scenes often have a riotous energy... lofty towers poking through the borders... and figures tumbling out on to the blank page as they fall or scramble to escape their enemies." The three volumes were sold by its previous owner, Mr Joost Ritman
Joost R. Ritman (born 1941, Amsterdam) is a businessman from the Netherlands. Ritman made his fortune with his family company De Ster, selling plastic tableware to airlines. He is the founder of the library Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in A ...
, for the benefit of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in Amsterdam. It had been on loan to that library./ref>
See also
*List of most expensive books and manuscripts
This is a list of printed books, manuscripts, letters, music scores, comic books, maps and other documents which have sold for more than US$1 million. The dates of composition of the books range from the 7th-century Quran leaf palimpsest and the ...
References
External links
The Rochefoucauld Grail
in artdaily.org
The Rochefoucauld Grail
in '' The Guardian'' 11 November 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rochefoucauld Grail 1310s books 14th-century illuminated manuscripts 14th-century books Literary illuminated manuscripts Holy Grail Arthurian literature in French