- 54
Bible, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [northern France, middle of the first half of the thirteenth century]
Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 GBP
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Description
- Vellum
a large leaf, 443mm. by 308mm., two columns, 39 lines, littera gothica textualis semi-rotunda quadrata, Deuteronomy 32:47 to end, opening of prologue to Joshua, Judges and Ruth (Stegmüller 311), heading in red, capitals touched in red, running-titles and chapter numbers in alternately red and blue capitals, two 2-line initials in red or blue with extensive penwork in both colours, very large illuminated initial, 10-line, formed of four coloured dragons, one with the head of a queen and another with the head of a hooded Moor, infilled with lush leafy spirals and on a panel ground, all in colours studded with gold bezants, slight rubbing to the queen's face, overall in almost perfect condition, hessian binding
Provenance
provenance
One of two leaves which evidently belonged to Mark Lansburgh, bought by Laurence Witten: the companion leaf, with the opening of Numbers, was Witten cat.12 (1980), no.41, and is now MS 314 at the University of Colorado at Boulder (Boffey and Edwards, Medieval Manuscripts in the Norlin Library, 2002, p.25 and pl.2); John Feldman; Schøyen MS 660, bought from Sam Fogg.
Catalogue Note
text
A leaf from a spectacular lectern Bible, similar to the great French romanesque manuscripts (in the Witten catalogue it was dated c.1170). The use of the 'Langton' chapter numbers, apart from anything else, must place it within the thirteenth century. Oberlin College, Special Collections B9, with Judges 1:11-3:20, appears to be from the same manuscript.