Leaf from an Antiphonary, decorated manuscript in Latin on vellum, [Italy, 15th century]

Property from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery

Leaf from an Antiphonary

Decorated manuscript in Latin on vellum. [Italy, 15th century]

Single leaf, c.430×300mm; 6 lines of text and music in square notation on 4-line red staves (c.300×180mm); the initial introducing the Common of Saints for the feast of a single saint between Easter and Pentecost when nothing else is assigned to that day; foliated ‘lix’ in red in the fore-edge margin of the recto; decorated with A LARGE FINE INITIAL FILLED WITH DENSE PENWORK ORNAMENT in blue and red with olive green washes, and a similar but smaller initial on the verso.

LITERATURE:

Scott Gwara, Otto Ege’s Manuscripts (Cayce, SC, 2013), Handlist no. 175; citing only a single leaf, sold in our rooms, 26 November 1985, lot 63(n).

PROVENANCE:

Otto Ege; pencil inscriptions include ‘Italy 1485 AD Antiphonal’, ‘#76’, and ‘$6.50’.

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Gallery Purchase, 1940 (1940:355.26)