Joshua Praying to God, historiated initial on a leaf from a Bible, in Latin [southern France (perhaps Avignon or Toulouse), c.1320-30]

single leaf, 265x198mm, vellum, with an initial 'E' (53x53mm) at the beginning of the book of Joshua, 2 columns, 46 lines, 250x170mm, the top 20mm and 3 lines of text on a strip taken from Deuteronomy from the same Bible to replace a missing strip of similar size, small loss to right margin, the gold diaper of the initial flaking, somewhat cockled overall

The origin of this leaf presents an interesting puzzle. The parchment is prepared in the southern manner and the script and penwork flourishing of initials is Italianate. In addition, a bifolium from the same manuscript containing another part of Joshua and the historiated initial for Judges, formerly in the personal collection of Bernard M. Rosenthal of San Francisco, was sold by Quaritch, Cat.1088, Bookhands of the Middle Ages, Part III, 1988, no.72; in the 17th century it had been used as a wrapper for an archival volume in or near Piacenza, northern Italy. The style of the historiated initial, however, is more French than Italian. The manuscript was made during the period (from 1309) when seven successive popes resided in Avignon and French and Italian book-makers worked side-by-side: this doubtless explains the combination of French and Italian features, and the volume’s later Italian provenance.