c 1300 MAILHAC-FABER BIBLE Lexicon Leaf- Exceptional Miniature

$6,500.00

Original leaf from an exceptional folio size medieval manuscript Bible.  Three columns of forty-seven lines, written in attractive rounded gothic hand. Line extenders and marginalia are in red and blue on animal vellum (330 x 230 mm - 13.2 x 9.2").

Four two-line initials alternate in deep blue with red penwork and red with violet penwork.

One exceptional seven-line historiated initial contains a miniature painting of a saint (possibly St. Stephen with his right hand clenched around a stone) and extends down the margin with in deep blue, orange, burnished gold, taupe, pink and white.                       

Southwestern France, c. 1300.

The illumination is in an unusual Provincial style – with the script showing Italian influences.                        

This leaf contains a lexicon, or Interpretation of Hebrew Names, beginning with ''R''.  The historiated initial begins names starting with ''S''.

Provenance: The parent book of this leaf is sometimes known as the "Mailhac-Faber Bible" - formerly in the collection of Sir Thomas Phillips and Sir Chester A. Beatty. The manuscript was sold at Sotheby’s in the Beatty Sale (24 June 1969) lot 57 and subsequently dissembled.  Sister leaves appeared in Quaritch catalog 1036 and 1056 (1985). A detailed discussion and  list of sister leaves is found in Peter Kidd, The Mccarthy Collection, III - French Miniatures (London, 2021), no. 6.

Presented in an archival 20x16'' mat.

  • Inventory# IM-4023