Grand leaf with an arresting, large miniature of Christ the Redeemer.

525 mm ×. 375 mm, single leaf, ruled in plummet for six four-line staves with square musical notation, text written in a large Gothic rotunda liturgical script in dark brown ink, rubrics in red, verso with two Lombard initials in red and blue, recto with a large historiated initial ‘S’ extending over more than two staves, formed of colored bands with ornamental terminals and set against a blue ground with fine white tracery, the initial encloses a seated figure of Christ the Redeemer, haloed and holding a book, his right hand raised in blessing. Slight cockling and natural wear to parchment, with minor pigment abrasion, but overall in excellent condition with strong preservation of color and script.

The elegant historiated initial ‘S’ comes from an Antiphonal likely made in the vicinity of Bologna for a Dominican convent. The subtle compositional structure, elegant draftsmanship, and confident handling of figure and space demonstrate the work of an accomplished illuminator active within the artistic traditions of late thirteenth-century Emilia. Although rooted in the principles of the Bolognese primo stile, the artist develops these conventions into a distinctive personal idiom. The miniature shares close stylistic affinities with works attributed to the Master of the Gradual III of Imola Cathedral and the broader circle of the Master of Imola, an association supported by the artist’s characteristic facial types with faces formed with a continuous curved contour beginning at the chin and extending toward the eyes and eyebrows, together with the thick, dark crests of hair given to youthful male figures.

These features suggest that the illuminator developed his style from models produced by an earlier generation of Emilian artists, including a Bible now in Paris (Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS NAL 3100). A comparable vocabulary appears in the earliest section of Bologna, Museo Civico Medievale, MS 518 (especially fols. 55v and 63), and in the choir books produced for both the Cathedral of Imola and the Dominican convent of San Domenico, Imola. The same artistic personality is represented by the magnificent sister leaf in the Getty Museum (MS 62), whose monumental figures and refined handling of drapery closely correspond with the present miniature. These associations place the parent Antiphonary firmly within the artistic milieu of Emilia around 1270–1280, most likely outside Bologna itself, perhaps in the region of Imola. Produced for a Dominican foundation, the manuscript can therefore be dated shortly after the Imola Cathedral Gradual, around 1275.

The miniature introduces the Third Response of the First Nocturne for the Feast of All Saints, 1 November (Summe Trinitati, simplici Deo...).

Provenance
(1) Parent manuscript in the collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, Vaduz.

(2) Paul Vogel Collection, Lucerne; his sale, Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, 15 June 1970, lot 1. The catalogue of the Paul Vogel Collection sale describes the complete Antiphonary from which the present leaf was later excised. At that time, the manuscript remained intact and contained six leaves with historiated initials. Seven years later, three leaves from the dispersed Antiphonary reappeared individually at Galerie Fischer, Lucerne (sale 248, 21–22 November 1977), where the present leaf was offered as lot 789.

(3) Friedrich G. Zeileis Collection, Austria, 2004.

(4) Private Collection, Switzerland.

(5) Galerie Koller, Zürich, 18 March 2008, lot 3401.

(6) Sam Fogg Ltd, London.

(7) Robert McCarthy, London, MS BM 2310.

Parent manuscript and sister leaves
The Antiphonary from which the present leaves originate was last recorded intact in the Paul Vogel Collection sale at Galerie Fischer, Lucerne (15 June 1970, lot 1). The catalogue description records a substantial choir book containing six historiated initials. Following its sale, the manuscript was subsequently dismembered, and seven years later, three illuminated leaves appeared individually at Galerie Fischer, Lucerne (sale 248, 21–22 November 1977). The present leaf was 789, with a second leaf as lot 78 (now in the McCarthy Collection), and a third leaf with an initial depicting St. Martin was sold as lot 790; its present location remains unknown. The six historiated initials from the Antiphonary can be reconstructed as follows: Saint Peter (f. 3v, initial S, Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, 29 June); Saint Paul with the Sword (f. 18r, initial Q, Feast of St Paul, 30 June); The Death of Saint Dominic and his Reception into Heaven by Christ and the Virgin (f. 49r, initial M, Feast of Saint Dominic, 4 August; now Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, MS 62); The Death and Coronation of the Virgin (f. 64v; McCarthy Collection); Christ in Majesty (f. 135r; the present leaf); and Saint Martin Standing beneath a Tabernacle (f. 158v, initial H, Feast of Saint Martin, 11 November; present whereabouts unknown).

LITERATURE
Published: Jörn Günther, Catalogue 6: Miniatures and Illuminated Leaves from the 12th to the 16th Centuries, Hamburg, 2002, pp. 58–60, no. 1; Gaudenz Freuler with Georgi Parpulov, The McCarthy Collection, Vol I, Italian and Byzantine Miniatures, London, 2018, pp. 78–79, no. 24; Related literature: François Avril and Marie-Thérèse Gousset, with Claudia Rabel, Manuscrits enluminés d’origine italienne, 2: XIIIe siècle, Paris, 1984; Franco Faranda ed., Cor unum et anima una: Corali miniati della Chiesa di Imola, Faenza, 1994; Silvia Battistini and Fabrizio Lollini, Corali miniati di Faenza, Bagnacavallo e Cotignola: Tesori dalla diocesi, Faenza, 2000; Thomas Kren and Kurt Barstow, Italian Illuminated Manuscripts in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2015, pp. xi, xiii, 12.

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.