![THE DORMITION AND ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN, historiated initial on a leaf from a Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris, c.1330–40]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2019/CKS/2019_CKS_18152_0447_006(the_dormition_and_assumption_of_the_virgin_historiated_initial_on_a_le_d6217489055247).jpg?w=1)
![THE DORMITION AND ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN, historiated initial on a leaf from a Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris, c.1330–40]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2019/CKS/2019_CKS_18152_0447_005(the_dormition_and_assumption_of_the_virgin_historiated_initial_on_a_le_d6217489055238).jpg?w=1)
Details
THE DORMITION AND ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN, historiated initial on a leaf from a Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Paris, c.1330–40]
Splendid script and expressive illumination in almost pristine condition.
A single leaf, c.350×255mm, ruled in pale ink for 2 columns of 13 lines written in very fine gothic script, ruled space c.225×165mm, the text comprising the end of a mass for St Eusebius (14 August) and the beginning of a mass for the Assumption of the Virgin (15 August), illuminated with a large historiated initial ‘U’ depicting the Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin, from which springs a full four-sided and inter-columnar border, two smaller illuminated foliate initials (very slight cockling and darkening at the edges of the leaf but otherwise in very fine condition). Bound in grey buckram by the Quaritch bindery.
Provenance:
(1) From a volume of exceptional luxury, of which no other leaves have yet been recognised. Sotheby’s noted that the script and format (but not decoration) very closely resemble that of a Missal commissioned in 1323 for the Premonstratensian monastery of St John at Amiens (The Hague, KB, 78 D 40; but at 250×200mm, and written in columns of 14 lines, it is not especially close to the present leaf).
(2) Sotheby’s, 29 November 1990, lot 17, bought by Ferrini; sold in March 1991 to:
(3) Schøyen Collection, MS 1276.
Script:
This is a very fine example of large, elegant, and regular gothic script, appropriate to high-status liturgical books for use in the Church’s most holy liturgy, the Mass. Rather than the more formal ‘textura’ or ‘blackletter’ script, in which minims look very alike, the more rounded letter-forms are much easier to read, so that, for example, in the first word on the leaf, ‘iniquitatibus’, the ‘i’, ‘n’, and ‘u’ can easily be distinguished, even without dotting of the ‘i’. Many pairs of letters ‘kiss’, and several pairs of round letter are fused (e.g. ‘de’ in eundem, ‘bo’ in cibo, ‘do’ in domine, and of course ‘pp’ in supplices).
Illumination:
Previously attributed to Picardy on the basis of a comparison with the Beauvais Missal and a Missal in The Hague, the decoration is, in fact, typical of Paris. The illumination is lively and expressive: the drawing of outlines in a red-brown ink, the treatment of hair, and the sharply angular profile noses are similar to the series of four-scene miniatures of which one was in our sale of the The Arcana Collection, Part III, 6 July 2011, lot 4 (see, for these latter leaves, C. de Hamel, Gilding the Lilly, 2010, no 43).
Splendid script and expressive illumination in almost pristine condition.
A single leaf, c.350×255mm, ruled in pale ink for 2 columns of 13 lines written in very fine gothic script, ruled space c.225×165mm, the text comprising the end of a mass for St Eusebius (14 August) and the beginning of a mass for the Assumption of the Virgin (15 August), illuminated with a large historiated initial ‘U’ depicting the Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin, from which springs a full four-sided and inter-columnar border, two smaller illuminated foliate initials (very slight cockling and darkening at the edges of the leaf but otherwise in very fine condition). Bound in grey buckram by the Quaritch bindery.
Provenance:
(1) From a volume of exceptional luxury, of which no other leaves have yet been recognised. Sotheby’s noted that the script and format (but not decoration) very closely resemble that of a Missal commissioned in 1323 for the Premonstratensian monastery of St John at Amiens (The Hague, KB, 78 D 40; but at 250×200mm, and written in columns of 14 lines, it is not especially close to the present leaf).
(2) Sotheby’s, 29 November 1990, lot 17, bought by Ferrini; sold in March 1991 to:
(3) Schøyen Collection, MS 1276.
Script:
This is a very fine example of large, elegant, and regular gothic script, appropriate to high-status liturgical books for use in the Church’s most holy liturgy, the Mass. Rather than the more formal ‘textura’ or ‘blackletter’ script, in which minims look very alike, the more rounded letter-forms are much easier to read, so that, for example, in the first word on the leaf, ‘iniquitatibus’, the ‘i’, ‘n’, and ‘u’ can easily be distinguished, even without dotting of the ‘i’. Many pairs of letters ‘kiss’, and several pairs of round letter are fused (e.g. ‘de’ in eundem, ‘bo’ in cibo, ‘do’ in domine, and of course ‘pp’ in supplices).
Illumination:
Previously attributed to Picardy on the basis of a comparison with the Beauvais Missal and a Missal in The Hague, the decoration is, in fact, typical of Paris. The illumination is lively and expressive: the drawing of outlines in a red-brown ink, the treatment of hair, and the sharply angular profile noses are similar to the series of four-scene miniatures of which one was in our sale of the The Arcana Collection, Part III, 6 July 2011, lot 4 (see, for these latter leaves, C. de Hamel, Gilding the Lilly, 2010, no 43).
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Eugenio Donadoni