Western Manuscripts and Miniatures

Magnificent illuminated initial with bright rich colors and highly burnished gold leaf from what much have been an enormous Choir book perhaps measuring as much as four feet in height.

250 x 207 mm. Partial leaf, ruled on the verso for at least three lines of text and four staves of four red lines (rastrum: 37 mm), written in brown ink in a rounded gothic bookhand, square notation, four-line illuminated initial in pink, vermillion orange, blue, and green, with white tracery and hatching, on burnished gold and liquid gold ground, framed with vermillion orange and ochre wash (slight soiling, else in excellent condition).

Shining with gold and colors in excellent condition, this leaf with a large initial ‘M’ comes from an as-yet unidentified Choir book with musical notation. The text on the verso cites John the Baptist and may thus be related with the feast of his Nativity (24 June). This brilliant multicolored letter, with its pink stem and foliage in blue, green, vermillion orange, and yellow, is placed on a rectangular burnished gold ground, framed with an ochre wash border and an unusual vermillion orange decorative pattern. The infill of the initial consists of sophisticated leafy configurations. The pink stems are decorated with chains of white filigree, and the vertical divider of the letter ‘M’ is encircled by an orange ring.

Distinctive features that could further a precise identification of the illuminator include the strong inclination of the terminations of the curved leaves, the modelling of the leaves in parallel hatches of white rather than gold, and the unusual gold ground defined in brown curls evocative of a fruit. Several features find similarities with manuscripts illuminated in Tuscany in the mid-fifteenth century, such as the ochre wash frame of the letter in an initial of an Antiphonal from Santa Maria sopra Porta around 1430 (Hindman and Toniolo 2021, no. 17, pp. 182-194), the palette and use of white hatches in the initials of an Antiphonal attributed to Giovanni di Paolo and Sano di Pietro around 1450 (Hindman and Toniolo 2021, no. 23, pp. 242-247). On the other hand, the painterly modelling of the letter and the symmetrical arrangement of the leaves spreading from the initial and ring of the vertical divider also recall initials illuminated in late-fifteenth century Lombardy.

Provenance
Private collection, California, USA, MS 141.

LITERATURE
Further literature, see: Sandra Hindman and Federica Toniolo, eds., The Burke Collection of Italian Manuscript Paintings, 2021.

Freeman’s | Hindman thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Elliott Adam for their assistance in preparing this sale.