Manuscript executed in Florence during the Renaissance period Sotheby's London . An incredible price for a manuscript enriched with miniatures which came from the Beck collection in Stuttgart. The sale of over 30 medieval manuscripts realised £ 11,15 millions (US $ 19,166 millions). A rare gospel manuscript book executed in Metz, eastern France, between 825 and 850, fetched £ 1,1 million (US $ 1,833 million) just above its pre-sale estimate while the Psalter of Saint-Blasien, executed around 1236-45 in the Black Forest region with a spectacular decor composed of 21 full-page miniatures was sold for £ 2,5 millions (US $ 4,166 millions). A manuscript of the Psalter of Mechtilde of Brunswick executed by copyists in Lower Saxony went for £ 1,871 million (US $ 3,15 millions) despite the fact that only a quarter of it was in its original form. The quality of the miniatures of the Romanesque period however justified this bid. Meanwhile, the book of Hours of Cockerell, executed in Holland, reached £ 1,002 million (US $ 1,750 million) and this bid smashed the rather cautious top estimate of £ 120,000. |