Page 123 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

2 < indirectly, through various recensions that fall 3
ALEXANDER OBSERVING within three main lines of transmission. The Boucicaut Master
present manuscript belongs to the tradition which
THE ICHTHYOPHAGI dates back to a Greek version, of which the oldest THE PEPPER HARVEST IN COILUM
from Jehan Wauquelin, surviving manuscript is Bibliotheque Nationale,
Histoire du bon roy Alexandre Paris, MS grec 1711. This text is also known from Livre des merveilles
c. 1448 through various derivatives, such as the Latin c. 1410
French version by Julius Valerius (Res gestae Alexandri manuscript on parchment, 297 fols.
3
l
manuscript on parchment, 227/0/5. Macedonis] and its epitomes; this was used by 42 X 29.8 (l6 /2 X ll /4)
43-5 x 30.5 (i?V8Xi2) Alberic for his Old French Roman d'Alexandre in references: Omont 1907; Bibliotheque Nationale
references: Omont 1895-1896, 1:383, no. 9342; dodecasyllabic verse. Jehan Wauquelin of Mons, 1955, 82-83, no. 169; Meiss 1968, 116-122,
1
Ross 1963, i / and 36; Ross 1971, 193; Husband the author of the text in the manuscript exhibited figs. 81-100; Wittkower 1977^, 76-92
f
1980, 53, ig. 26. here, used Alberic's text for his Histoire du bon Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, MS fr. 2810,
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, MS fr. 9342, fol. 182 roy Alexandre which he wrote, before 1448, for fol. 8^r
Jean de Bourgogne, Comte d'Etampes. The first
This illustration depicts one of the best-known part of this work is entirely based on the Roman The history of this splendid Livre des merveilles
adventures from the Romance of Alexander, d'Alexandre while the second is a version, some- (Book of Marvels) is well known. From an inscrip-
showing the hero being lowered in a diving bell times quite literal, of the Old French Prose Alex- tion on a guard folio we know that the manuscript
below the sea to observe the fish-eating people, ander, a derivation of the Historia de preliis. was presented by John the Fearless, duke of Bur-
the ichthyophagi, who can be seen on the right, Wauquelin's Histoire is found in four illustrated gundy, whose portrait, coat of arms, and devices
hunting their prey surrounded by all kinds of manuscripts, including the one exhibited here, of appear on fol. 226, to his uncle Jean, duke of
aquatic animals. (For additional information on great quality, which was made for Philippe le Bon, Berry. An inventory of the duke of Berry's posses-
Alexander's submarine adventures, see Ross 1971, Duke of Burgundy. MS fr. 9342 has eighty minia- sions records that he received the gift in January
193, index.) The Romance of Alexander has some tures on 227 folios showing a great variety of 1413. The manuscript was later owned by Jacques
factual basis in Alexander the Great's travels in narrative scenes; on folio 179 is found, for exam- d'Armagnac, duke of Nemours, and on his death it
Asia, but Alexander's actual adventures were ple, the story of Alexander the Great's visit to passed to the House of Bourbon before entering
eclipsed by legend. The oldest Greek Alexander the Earthly Paradise, a legend of Jewish origin the Royal Library. The illustrations for the most
legend was probably written by the author known which was known in the Middle Ages through part fall into three distinct stylistic groups. The
as the Pseudo-Callisthenes sometime in the a short Latin text, the Alexandri Magni iter first of these consists of works from the workshop
third century A.D. This text is known to us only adParadisum. J.M.M. of the so-called Boucicaut Master: The portrait
of John the Fearless was probably painted by the
master himself, while a few pictures are by one
of his followers. The second group can be linked
to the circle of the Bedford Master. The remain-
ing pages are traditionally attributed to minor
illuminators.
The manuscript is a'n important compilation
of French translations of various texts describing
voyages to the east, including Marco Polo's
Description of the World, Odoric of Pordenone's
Itinerarium, and William of Boldensele's Liber de
quibusdam ultramarinis partibus (On Certain
Lands beyond the Sea), an account of his pilgrim-
age to Palestine and Egypt in 1336. The volume
also contains the letter from the great khan to
Benedict xn (1338) and the pope's answer, as well
as a description of the state of the great khan
written by John of Cor, bishop of Sultaniyah.
Finally there are Sir John Mandeville's Travels,
Hayton's Historia orientalis, and Ricoldo di Mon-
tecorvo's story of his voyage to the East begun in
1288. Real travel accounts are thus mixed with
spurious and imaginary material.
The inscription on the guard folio written by
the duke of Berry's secretary Flamel indicates
that the book contains 266 hystoires, by which he
means illustrations of narratives. The miniatures
present a visual counterpart, or rather comple-
ment, to the marvels described in the text. They
depict, for example, fabulous creatures on the
islands of the Indian Ocean (fol. i94v), or pyg-
mies from the land of Pitan who live on the

122 CIRCA 1492