A gold-covered book for a nine-year-old future queen
Antique dealer Jörn Günther is bringing exceptional works to the Tefaf fair, such as the Hachette Book of Hours and the Gralla family book.
Maastricht (Netherlands)The Tefaf fair It is considered the best art and antiques fair in the world thanks to the rigor of the selection of everything on display: days before opening, some 200 experts from around the world carefully review all the works of art, decorative art objects, furniture, jewelry and books on display, in order to verify them. These are the well-known days of vetting [verification], so these experts use all the means at their disposal, including AI. Thus, it may happen that one of these experts has a piece withdrawn or forces the gallery owner to correct the information on the label. In the field of books, the level of excellence is guaranteed by professionals such as the Swiss Jörn Günther, considered one of the three most important antiquarians of old books.
One of the most prized types of books in the field of manuscripts are the books of hours. They are a very personal object: the psalms, prayers, and texts in these books—some lavishly illustrated—were tailored to the person for whom they were intended, usually from the nobility and aristocracy. Books of hours were a common wedding gift, but they were also given when someone had a child or entered the nobility. And while the most luxurious ones were designed to impress, others are more worn: traces of tears have been found in some books, and the images of some Annunciation or of the Virgin Mary with the Child are worn from "kissing" them, as explained by Catalan historian Mireia Castaño, head of academic relations.
This year, Günther is exhibiting a gem in every sense: the tiny Hachette Book of Hours, created between 1508 and 1512 for the future Queen Claude of France, who was the wife of King Francis I. The uniqueness of the piece lies in the use of gold: "All the folios are gilded, even two that are blank, it's something I've never seen before," says Cast. The price of the book is on par with its sumptuousness: around 3.6 million euros. "We have to think that it is a book that was made for a girl who was about nine or ten years old, who had not yet married. It is a very sweet book, because it is full of references to her father and mother." Two other treasures in this gallery are a very rare copy of the Remains of Alexander dated between the years 1290 and 1300 and the Book of Hours of Queen Catherine of Aragon (1.4 million euros).
The magnificent Book of Hours of the Gralla family
Another of the treasures that Günther exhibits has Catalan roots. It is the Gralla Book of Hours, commissioned during the first quarter of the 16th century by the most prominent member of this family originally from Lleida, the deputy of the Generalitat and diplomat Miquel Joan Gralla. In fact, the now-defunct Casa Gralla, located on Portaferrissa Street in Barcelona, was the most famous building of the Renaissance period in Catalonia. The miniatures in the book are by the Florentine painter trained in Flanders, Giacomo Smeraldo Dotavanti, who also worked at the Pedralbes monastery. The price is around 430,000 euros, and the usual discretion in the art market prevents Castaño from revealing whether any Catalan or state institution wants to buy it.
Tefaf opens its doors to the public this Saturday after two promising professional days: Artur Ramon has already sold a 16th-century Brussels tapestry valued at one million euros and several ceramics, and the Mayoral gallery has sold a painting by Manuel Millares worth more than one million euros. On the international scene, the Landau Gallery has sold a giant Henry Moore sculpture of a mother and child and a Kandinsky watercolor for undisclosed prices.