“Who That Be?”: The Perils of Purchasing Illuminated Fragments through Online Catalogs at Auction:

Abstract:This essay analyses the pitfalls of auction catalogs’ descriptions of fragments and cuttings. Through an in-depth examination of a cutting sold through Sotheby’s in 2009, the author deconstructs the way in which such fragments are attributed to well-known scribes or illuminators. The cutting was initially ascribed to the so-called Murano Master, but an investigation of the style and artistic features of the fragment challenges this assumption. The essay critically assesses the illumination of the Sotheby’s cutting to contextualize the role of the artist attribution, artistic quality, and provenance of fragments in auction catalogs.