Medieval prayerbook valued at up to $18 million

A medieval Flemish prayerbook, described as "a magnificent masterpiece of Renaissance art" is expected to sell for up to $18 million at
Christie's in New York later this month. The international auction house said the hand-painted manuscript, a Book of Hours, was known as The Rothschild Prayerbook, as it was previously in the collection of the barons Nathaniel and Albert von Rothschild.

The prayerbook last changed hands at auction in 1999 when it sold for $13.3 million (€9.7m).

Christie’s said the prayerbook, “perhaps the finest illuminated manuscript in private hands”, was made for a member of the imperial court in the Netherlands, circa 1505, and was “one of the highest achievements of Flemish Renaissance painting with 150 pages and miniatures and borders of superlative quality”.

It is the highlight of an auction, titled “Renaissance”, on January 29th, which features work by artists who flourished in Europe from 1300 to 1600, a “golden age” that produced some of the most extraordinary innovations in poetry, music and literature, painting, sculpture, and architecture.