A rare fragment of the Geometric style from an Atlantic Bible.

c. 65 mm × 45 mm, excised initial ‘N’, verso written in a large, rounded late Caroline minuscule, 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, entwined with acanthus flowers. Pigments well preserved, and parchment in good condition.

This illuminated initial exemplifies the refined elegance and architectural clarity of the later Geometric style, one of the defining ornamental modes of Tuscan manuscript illumination in the second half of the twelfth century. One of seven known fragments from the original manuscript, the present leaf derives from a so-called Atlantic Bible (Bibbie Atlantiche), the grandest form of biblical manuscript produced in Italy during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Named for their immense scale, recalling the mythical giant Atlas, these volumes presented the complete biblical text in one or more oversized codices designed for communal reading, display, and long-term preservation within monasteries and cathedral libraries. Their production flourished especially in central Italy in the wake of the Gregorian Reform, when the creation of authoritative, standardized biblical texts became closely connected with ecclesiastical renewal and institutional identity. Lavishly executed initials, such as the present example, served not only as visual markers within these monumental volumes but also as expressions of the prestige and intellectual authority of the communities that commissioned them.

The exceptional quality of execution and consistency of ornamental design strongly suggest production in a Tuscan scriptorium around c. 1160–1180. Close parallels may be found among early Sienese manuscripts, particularly an example in the Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati (MS F.I.5.2) whose initials share comparable structural forms, ornamental compartments, and decorative vocabulary. The text on the verso (probably the original recto) preserves a passage from the conclusion of the Book of Daniel (14:39–42), suggesting that the large initial ‘N’ originally introduced Jerome’s prologue to the Twelve Minor Prophets, beginning “Non idem ordo est duodecim prophetarum apud Hebraeos…”
 
Provenance
(1) London, Phillips's, 3 December 1997 sale, lot 154.

(2) Robert McCarthy, London, MS BM 1147b.

Sister leaves
Known sister fragments include: ‘E’, ‘S’, ‘V’, ‘O’, ‘H’, ‘I’, and ‘V’ (see Freuler with Georgi Parpulov 2018).

LITERATURE
Published: Gaudenz Freuler with Georgi Parpulov, The McCarthy Collection: Vol. I, Italian and Byzantine Miniatures, London, 2018, no. 13; Related literature: Edward G. Garrison, Studies in the History of Mediaeval Italian Painting, 4 vols., London, 1953–54; Daniela Klange Addabbo, Codici miniati della Biblioteca degli Intronati (Secoli XI–XIV), Florence, 1987, pp. 107–114; Marilena Maniaci and Giulia Orofino, eds., Le Bibbie Atlantiche: Il libro delle scritture tra monumentalità e rappresentazione, Milan, 2001; Lila Yawn, “The Italian Giant Bibles: Lay Patronage and Professional Workmanship (11th–12th Centuries),” in Les usages sociaux de la Bible, XIe–XVe siècles, ed. Xavier Hermand and Élisabeth Mégier, Paris, 2010, pp. 1–32.

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