An ex-Lauria choirbook leaf

The summer sales of medieval MSS at Christie's, Sotheby's, and Forum are now online, and I am going through them annotating my old catalogues with the new sale references.

One that caught my eye and jogged my memory is the one above, which is being offered at Sotheby's, 9 July 2026, lot 11; it was previously Christie's, 11 December 2019, lot 209.  

Unknown to both previous cataloguers is that it was formerly part of the stock of Arthur Lauria, a bookseller of of 174, Blvd. Haussmann, Paris (about whom I should do a blogpost at some point). 

In his 1955 catalogue of Manuscrits, incubables, livres rares, reliures, is an image of the bookseller at his desk, surrounded by books, paintings, etc.:

[click to enlarge]

To the right of the desk, between a portrait of the Madonna and Child, and an upholstered chair, is a choirbook leaf set in a strange contraption made of turned wood spindles: 

Looking closely, we can see that it is the leaf currently at Sotheby's: