The 14th century manuscript, the Rochefoucauld Grail, contains what is believed to be the oldest surviving account of the legends of King Arthur. Three of four volumes that make up the manuscript will be on auction at Sotheby’s sale of Western Manuscripts and Miniatures on Tuesday, Dec. 7. The fourth volume is split between two libraries in England.
“The scenes often have a riotous energy, and often stretch beyond the boundaries of the picture frames, with lofty towers poking through the borders at the top, and figures tumbling out of the miniatures onto the blank page as they fall or scramble to escape their enemies,” explained Dr Timothy Bolton, specialist in charge of the sale at Sotheby’s, in a prepared statement.
The manuscript was likely written for one of the leading aristocratic families of Medieval France (circa 1315-23) and is now expected to sell for $2.49 to $3.23 million.
The stories of the quest for the Holy Grail, the Lady of the Lake, King Arthur, Camelot, Sir Lancelot, and Guinevere, come to life in the pages of the manuscript, giving a glimpse at the origin of the secular pantheon that continues to loudly resonate today.
The size of the work is also impressive.
“This is one of the principal manuscripts of the first significant Medieval work of secular literature. It is a grand book, in a monumental format, with 107 miniatures, each a dazzling jewel of early Gothic illumination,” explained Bolton.
Apparently some 200 cows were needed to produce the vellum sheets that make up the three monumental volumes, according to Sotheby’s. The whole set is embellished with some 107 jewel-like illuminated illustrations, with gold leaf backgrounds, each one a work of art in its own right. According to the lot description, the page size is about 15 by 11.5 inches, and the three volumes have respectively 118,233 and 104 leaves, all appearing complete.
These stories were very popular at the time, proven by the multiple translations into other European languages. Sotheby’s explains it is because it offered a model of spiritual chivalric behavior, a guidebook for a Christian courtly society, through which the whole gamut of human emotions could be experienced. It shows friendship and love as well as lust, treachery and sin, while the characters struggle with ambition, achievement and crushing failure.
The volumes appeared on the market in the early-18th century and passed to Sir Thomas Phillipps, a 19th century collector. Since then, the work has changed hands just twice.
To this day, the Rochefoucauld Grail is ranked among the finest Medieval manuscripts in private hands.
The work is being sold by Mr. Joost. R. Ritman for the benefit of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, a library in Amsterdam.
Story and Illustration Highlights
One picture portrays the Lady of the Lake carrying Sir Lancelot as a baby down to her underwater castle. In the legend, Lancelot’s mother turns from the side of her dying husband to see her child being carried away by the mystical Lady of the Lake. Lancelot then grows up in an underwater world to emerge later as the greatest knight of his day.
Another depicts Queen Guinevere and her maidservants leading a wounded Lancelot to safety. Married to King Arthur, Guinevere’s infatuation with Lancelot was mutual. This tragic love both inspired him to become the greatest knight, and ultimately bought about both their downfalls.
Lancelot, having heard the false reports that Guinevere is dead, falls into suicidal despair and attempts to take his own life. In the picture, the other Knights of the Round Table who are meant to be watching over him have fallen asleep, all except one who leaps up to stop him from fatally wounding himself.
The story of Joseph of Arimathea bringing the Holy Grail to Britain, having walked across water to do so, is portrayed in one image, showing his supporters walking across his cloak on the water’s surface, while the non-believers are left to drown.
One interesting twist shows Knights Lancelot and Gawain in a cart entering a walled town as the townspeople pelt them with filth.
In one image of King Arthur, fighting the Saxon army, the fear Arthur engenders is so great that his enemies literally jump out of the picture.
