Ascension of Christ, in a large initial on a leaf from an illuminated antiphoner, on vellum [Northern Italy (probably Emilia-Romagna), late thirteenth or early fourteenth century]

single leaf, 473mm. by 352mm., with a large slender initial ‘P’ (opening “Post passionem suam per dies quadraginta”, the responsory from Matins for Ascension) in orange and light brown acanthus leaf fronds, enclosing the Ascension, with Christ disappearing into a blue mandorla above, while saints surrounding the Virgin below bear witness, 7 lines of text with music on a 4-line red stave, 3 small initials in blue or red with contrasting penwork, 7 similar lines and 2 small initials on verso, nineteenth- or early twentieth-century folio number “40” in upper corner, some small smudges to body of initial and remains of tape from previous framing, else excellent condition

This leaf is from a notably early antiphoner, and the simple and delicate depictions of the figures point to the compositions of Bologna and the surrounding region of Emilia-Romagna in the late thirteenth century (cf. the work of the Master of Bagnacavallo in New York, Metropolitan Museum, cuttings 1926 [26.159.1-2] and Imola Cathedral, Graduale III: reproduced in Choirs of Angels, 2008, pp.56-7; and the antiphonal offered by Gunther, Cat.8: Fifty Manuscripts and Miniatures, 2006, no.5). There is a great economy of brushstrokes here, and the artist manages to convey much feeling with a few hairline strokes.