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Collection of binding fragments from decorated and illuminated manuscripts, in Latin, on vellum
Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 GBP
bidding is closed
Description
35 leaves, (a) frontispiece from an illuminated manuscript of Sermons, with the initial 'I' (opening In nomine domine ...') enclosing a full-length portrait of the author dressed as a Benedictine monk and pointing to a copy of his text, with full border decoration of acanthus-leaves and bezants (much rubbed), and an architectural column separating the two columns of text, 60 lines of text in a small rounded hand, rubrics in red, 2 initials in blue and red with contrasting penwork tracery, contemporary number '2' with paragraph mark in upper margin of verso, Italy (probably Bologna), mid fourteenth century; (b) twenty-two substantial fragments from a series of illuminated Canon Law manuscripts (20 bisected laterally, and another almost complete bifolium measuring 400mm. by 445mm.), one bearing two coats of arms within an initial 'B' of a black bear on a burnished gold background and another on a white background (perhaps those of the influential Orsini family of Rome, whose arms included two bears), Italy (most probably Bologna or Padua), second half of the fourteenth century; (c) eight fragments of bifolia, bisected laterally, and each measuring approximately 430mm. by 130mm., from a choirbook, with music on a 4-line brown stave and numerous small red initials, Italy, fourteenth century; (d) three fragments of bifolia, bisected laterally, each approximately 400mm. by 150mm., from a glossed Bible, Italy, thirteenth century; (e) a large bifolium from a religious commentary, 360mm. by 500mm., 2 columns, 56 lines in brown ink, remains of 4 intials in blue and red with contrasting penwork, Italy, fourteenth century; all recovered from bindings and hence somewhat defective
Catalogue Note
Items (b) are from a volume (or perhaps series of volumes) of Gratian's Decretum prepared for a patron of some significance. The coats-of-arms with the two black bears are perhaps those of the Orsini family of Rome (who through a pun on Ursus, used pairs of these animals in their armorial devices). Legal manuscripts were often richly illuminated, and although armorial devices are not unknown in fourteenth-century Italian art (see Illuminating the Law, Medieval Legal Manuscripts in Cambridge Collections, 2001, no. 12, pp. 172-81, especially pls. 12e and 12g, and Dix Siècles d'Enluminure Italienne, 1984, no. 69, p. 84), they are not common, and the present example is a notably early example of their use there.