Surfacing on the market: The Three Marys

A private collection of 70 illuminated Italian manuscripts from the 13th to 15th centuries is expected to sell for more than SFr1m (€920,000). Among them is this rare early illumination from Perugia depicting an episode from the New Testament, the three Marys before the empty tomb of Jesus Christ after the Resurrection. Initial M with the Three Marys before the Empty Tomb of Christ (1320-25) was probably made by the Master of the Montelabate Cross, a follower of the Perugian master Meo da Siena, and is estimated to sell for between €15,000 and €23,000. The work also shows the influence of Giotto’s frescoes narrating the life of the Christ child in the lower church of St Francis of Assisi.