The Crucifixion, full-page illuminated miniature from an illuminated manuscript Missal on vellum

a single leaf, 273 mm. by 205 mm., with a miniature 235 mm. by 205 mm., Christ on the Cross, his eyes closed, the Virgin standing on the left wiping her face with hands under the folds of her robe, Saint John the Evangelist on the right, holding a book and staring downcast, two half-length angels above holding the sun and the moon, the Cross itself within and extending out from a faceted blue and brown frame, arched compartments extending on either side and enclosing (a) Ecclesia, a triumphant woman crowned and holding  a banner, and (b) Synagogue, a despondent woman with clothes in disarray holding a scroll, ground of burnished gold, verso blank except for part of 11 lines of text in a fifteenth-century hand, very worn and rubbed, some marginal holes, the gold mostly flaked, probably recovered from a bookbinding, in a brown wooden frame

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Late Ottonian or Romanesque illuminated miniatures are extremely rare in private hands.  The present leaf is from a Missal or Sacramentary.  The text on the verso is the conclusion of the benediction of salt and water before the Mass, the prayer which begins "Deus, invictæ virtutis auctor ...".  The style of painting, including the faces and drapery as well as the double frame, which is both in front of and behind the scene, resembles that of the Stammheim Missal, now Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum MS 64, made in Hildesheim (cf. E. C. Teviotdale, The Stammheim Missal, 2001), and is not entirely unlike the Gospels of Henry the Lion, famously sold in our rooms, 6 December 1983, lot 50.  The style of the Hildesheim and Helmarshausen workshops was evidently copied elsewhere in northern Germany, even in Thuringia.  A Psalter from Erfurt, now Hamburg Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Cod. 84 in scrinio, shows similar tall figures with white lines across the foreheads (cf. Blicke in Verborgene Schatzkammern, Mittelalterliche Handschriften und Miniaturen aus Hamburger Sammlungen, exhib. Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, 1998, pp. 32-33, no.10).