Leaf from a Bible, decorated manuscript in Latin on vellum, [Italy (perhaps Bologna?), 13th century]

Property from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery

Leaf from a Bible

Decorated manuscript in Latin on vellum. [Italy (perhaps Bologna?), 13th century (middle)]

Single leaf, c.300×200mm, written below top line in a fine rounded gothic bookhand, with calligraphic ascenders on the top line, in 2 columns of 63 lines (c.190×120); the text comprises James 3:3–I Peter 3:22; decorated with a VERY LARGE PUZZLE INITIAL in red and blue with flourishing in the same colours, 21 lines high; with some marginal staining, especially at the lower edge.

LITERATURE:

Judith Oliver, Manuscripts Sacred and Secular from the Collections of the Endowment for Biblical Research and Boston University (Boston, 1985), nos. 46–47.

Sotheby’s, Western Manuscripts and Miniatures, 26 November 1985, lot 52 with full-page plate.

Scott Gwara, Otto Ege’s Manuscripts (Cayce, SC, 2013), Handlist no. 58, citing leaves in six American institutions.

PROVENANCE:

Perhaps from the Italian 13th-century Bible (whose reported dimensions, number of lines per column, etc., are closely comparable) sold in our rooms, 22 June 1936, lot 23.

Otto Ege/Philip Duschnes

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Gallery Purchase, 1942 (1942:468.22)