Paradigm of Alfonso X's cultural work, the 150 drawings in the
"Book of Chess, Dice and Board Games" are one of the most important
testimonies of this king's court painting, both in their iconographic and
stylistic characteristics and in the court context and the hermetic culture
they reveal.
The " Book of Chess, Dice and Board Games " is a clear indicator of
King Alfonso's great wisdom; he was basically the great transmitter of
oriental culture, not only to the Iberian Peninsula but also throughout
the Western world. He chose the best contributors among Muslims,
Jews and Christians to undertake this project. The first thing they did
was a painstaking search of the required sources, data and works for
their commitment. But the king's cultural contribution, his tireless and
enterprising tenacity, was not only limited to the collection of references
for such purposes; furthermore, he ordered the introduction of brand-new
real problems, and provided new rules about the movement of the pieces.
In the Book, rectangular-shaped miniatures predominate, but sometimes
the most beautiful drawings, occupying "L" spaces in the middle of text,
or those which are whimsically painted, using greater spaces and even
replacing the text itself, tell us about those artists' inventiveness and
freedom.
One of the most beautiful miniatures: dice players in a Sevilian garden (folio 71 v).
A beautiful example of animal naturalism, quite common in Alphonsine representations (folio 67 v).
The drawings placed under arcades are only a few, and enclosed in a plain frame are the most frequent. Sometimes a character in the scene appears out of
the frame as in folio 67v, where a servant who holds the bridle of three spirited dice players' horses embodies a beautiful example of animal naturalism, as
usual in Alfonso X's representations, which is highlighted because of being outside the frame.
One of the most beautiful miniatures shows some dice players in a garden in Seville (¿?) with a cypress tree, a palm tree and an orange tree in folio 71v.
This time the figures stand out on the background as it happens in the miniatures of the Rich Code of Cantigas de Santa Maria.
In coedition with the National Wealth.
Life of Christ.
Collection Ms of the Pierpoint Morgan Library, New York.
** Sold Out Edition **
Manuskript M. 44 12. Jahrhundert Sammlung Ms. der Piermont Morgan Bibliothek New York.
Gehörte Saint Martial de Limoges.
Einzigartiger Kodex in seiner Gattung. Es beinhaltet nur Bilder vom Leben Christus. Die Bilder sind ähnlich wie die antiken Bilder der kunstvollen Fenster in der Kathedrale Chartes.
Studienbuch realisiert vom Professor der Kunstwissenschaft an der Universität von Valencia, Juan A. Vicente Garcia Marsilla
Auflage limitiert auf 250 Exemplare, nummeriert und mit notariellem Zertifikat.
Erste und einzige Ausgabe wurde mit "Natürlichen Pergament aus Lamm hergestellt"