Western Manuscripts and Miniatures

A group of elaborate geometric initials from the same “Atlantic” Bible of high quality, with knotted and interlaced design of lush vine stems on multicolored grounds.
 
c. 70 x 60 mm (‘E’), c. 50 x 55 mm (‘N’), c. 86 x 5 mm (‘H’). Partial leaves, fragment of one column (of originally two) of text remains on each verso, written in black ink in elegant Carolingian miniscule, THREE LARGE ILLUMINATED INITIALS outlined in red on blue or multi-colored ground with red contour, in a very elaborate interlacing design in-filled with geometric compartments of red and blue ornaments, the stems of the letters sometimes terminated in intricate knotwork, very lush white vine stems sprouting from the bottom and growing through and around the initials and the background (text slightly rubbed and faded, slight smudging on the initials, tape stains on the back, else in excellent condition).

These three partial leaves come from an unpublished Italian “Atlantic” Bible written in Tuscany in the third quarter of the twelfth century. The texts on the versos of the initials are insufficient to identify the biblical verses. However, other sister leaves in the McCarthy collection contain identifiable texts, thus confirming that this series of initials was excised from an Atlantic Bible. This group consists of three very elaborate initials executed in the later Geometric style. Each initial’s shaft is subdivided into various compartments, which are filled in with various patterns (red and blue; some of these are indented configurations, while others are hatches or various forms of knotted or interlaced designs). The initials are placed on a blue or multicolored ground in blue, purple, and black. The infills of the initials are lush vine stems, sometimes interwoven into the initials themselves.

The high quality of the initials and their style link them to lot 3 of the present sale, as Gaudenz Freuler had postulated that they may be painted by the same hand. This would suggest for both a common scriptorium, active in Tuscany towards the end of the third quarter of the twelfth century. Similar stylistic features resurface in some of the early manuscripts in the Biblioteca Comunale degli lntronati in Siena, particularly in MS F.I.5.

Provenance
1) Phillips, London, 3 December 1997, lot 154.
2) Robert McCarthy, London, MS BM 1147.

Sister leaves
All known sister leaves from the same unknown Atlantic Bible are in the McCarthy collection, bringing the number to a total of nine. All are published together with the present ones as no. 13 in his catalogue (see below).
 
LITERATURE
On the present leaf and sister leaves, published: Gaudenz Freuler and Georgi Parpulov, The McCarthy Collection, Vol. I, Italian and Byzantine Miniatures, London, 2018, no. 13, pp. 40-42 (with further literature).

We are grateful to Gaudenz Freuler for permission to quote from his catalogue for this entry. Freeman’s | Hindman thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Elliott Adam for their assistance in preparing this sale.