Original leaf from an exceptionally large folio size medieval manuscript Bible. Two columns of fifty lines, written in attractive gothic book hand. Rubricated chapter numbers, initials & marginalia in red & blue.(405x270mm – 16 x 10 ¾’’)
Five three- or four-line initials in pink or blue with white tracery on a pink or blue ground with interiors of a man's portrait, whimsical creatures or floral design in pink, orange, blue & burnished gold - extending the length of the margins in blue, orange, gold, pink & white & terminating in ivy leaves. One whimsical creature (beneath initial with portrait) looking in the direction of the binding & two fabulous winged creatures (verso) flying downward towards initials near the bottom.
France (Paris), c. 1275-1300 - Dominican ownership (per Otto Ege).
Provenance: Otto Ege Collection (purchased Parke-Bernet, NY 29 December 1948, lot 326). Sister leaves are #14 in Ege Portfolio of 50 Medieval Manuscripts. Currently over 200 leaves from this Bible are in the Schoyen Collection. Another leaf from the parent manuscript is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (ref 1994.539), a gift of William D. Wixom, at the time the Met Chairman of Medieval Arts and the Cloisters. (For other sister leaves see Maggs 1990 Bulletin 15, #62 and Pirages Catalog 54, #6). Reference: Gwara Hand List #14, where he ascribes it to "Flanders (possibly France) c 1325".
This leaf contains Isaiah 54:10 - 59:3: ''[Montes enim} commovebuntur...'' ([For the mountains] shall be moved & the hills shall tremble; but my mercy shall not depart from thee, and the covenant of my peace shall not be moved: said the Lord...Incline your ear and come to me: hear and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you...Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come...).
Shipped unmatted
