The Rochefoucauld Grail, also known as Amsterdam, Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, MS 1, is a three volume illuminated manuscript from the 14th century which was auctioned by Sotheby's in London on 7 December 2010.[1] It realised a hammer price of £2,100,000 (£2,393,250 including the buyer's premium.)[2] A fourth volume is divided between the Bodleian Library in Oxford (Douce Ms. 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 version of the legend of King Arthur and the Holy Grail.[3][4][5] The page size is about 405 mm by 295 mm, and the three volumes have respectively 118, 233 and 104 leaves, all appearing complete. The text is in two columns, by a number of scribes.[1][6]
It is claimed[5][7] that the Rochefoucauld Grail is one of the finest medieval manuscripts to still be privately owned. Two other complete versions of the text are held by the British Library, MS Additional 10292-4 of c. 1315 and MS Royal 14.E.iii, both produced by the same team of artists and scribes.[8] The Rochefoucauld Grail contains 107 beautifully painted illustrations, with backgrounds of gold leaf, showing the tale of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, Guinevere, Lancelot and Merlin and their quest for the Holy Grail. The hides of about two hundred cows would have been used in the manuscript's production.[3][5]
The four volumes were created in Flanders or Artois for the French nobleman Guy VII, Baron de Rochefoucauld, between 1315 and 1323.[9] The four volumes are presumed to have belonged to the Rochefoucauld family until the 18th century, but were dispersed by the 1720s.[1] The three volumes previously in Amsterdam were acquired in two separate purchases by the 19th century English antiquary and book collector Sir Thomas Phillipps and have subsequently been sold twice. The manuscript was sold by Sotheby's of London on 7 December 2010.[1] Dr. Timothy Bolton of Sotheby's said of the Rochefoucauld Grail, "It is a monumental format, with 107 miniatures, each a dazzling jewel of early Gothic 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."[5]
The three-volume manuscript was sold by its previous owner, Mr Joost Ritman, for the benefit of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in Amsterdam.[3] It had been on deposit at that library and is also known as Amsterdam, Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, MS 1.[10]