Western Manuscripts and Miniatures

Beautifully preserved initials of the later Geometric style.
 
c. 65–120 mm × 45–100 mm. (parchment, in varying sizes). Two cuttings, each initial ‘N’ and ‘O’ meticulously subdivided into patterned compartments rendered in rich reds and blues and featuring indented motifs, cross-hatching, and interlaced designs set against vibrant grounds of blue, purple, and green, infilled with dynamic vine scrolls, often entwined with acanthus flowers. Pigments well preserved, with some minor losses, else in excellent condition.
 
These two initials exemplify the refined elegance and structuralism of the later Geometric style, a hallmark of high-quality Tuscan manuscript production in the later twelfth century. Characterized by segmented shafts filled with patterned motifs—ranging from indented designs to hatching and interlace—the initials are set against vivid grounds of blue, purple, and green, with infills of vine scrolls and acanthus foliage. The exceptional craftsmanship and consistent stylistic vocabulary strongly suggest an origin in a Tuscan scriptorium active in the final decades of the third quarter of the twelfth century. Similar ornamental and figural treatments appear in early Sienese manuscripts, notably in MS F.I.5.2 of the Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati, where the initial ‘N’ on f. 42r features a comparable figure, further supporting this attribution. The texts on the versos are largely fragmentary and insufficient for firm identification. However, a longer passage on the verso of a sister fragment ‘V’ in the McCarthy Collection contains a legible passage assignable to Exodus 39:33 (Exodus opertorium de pellibus arietum rubricatis et alius...), confirming that this initial introduced Exodus 39. This evidence supports the conclusion that the series was originally part of an Atlantic Bible, a format known for its grand scale and elaborate illumination, produced for ecclesiastical use.
 
Provenance
(1) London, Phillips’s, 3 December 1997 sale, lot 154.
 
(2) Robert McCarthy, London, MS BM 1447c and 1447e.
 
Parent manuscript and sister leaves
Seven sister cuttings are currently held in the McCarthy Collection (see Freuler and Parpulov 2018).
 
LITERATURE
Gaudenz Freuler with Georgi Parpulov, The McCarthy Collection: Italian and Byzantine Miniatures, London, 2018, no. 13; related literature: Elisabeth G. Garrison, Studies in the History of Mediaeval Italian Painting, 2 vols., London, 1953–54; Daniela Klange Addabbo, Codici miniati della Biblioteca degli Intronati (Secoli XI–XIV), Florence, 1987, pp. 107–114.
 
We are grateful to Gaudenz Freuler for permission to quote from his catalogue for this entry, and we thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Peter Bovenmyer for their assistance in preparing this sale.
 
The Robert McCarthy Collection