Rare Romanesque cutting closely related to the celebrated illuminated Choir Books produced for Lucca Cathedral.

c. 64 × 82 mm, cutting on parchment preserving ONE HISTORIATED INITIAL ‘Q,’ painted in a lattice of yellow outlined in red and decorated with geometric and linear ornament, enclosing a half-length numbed figure holding a scroll and raising his hand in blessing, set against a rectangular blue ground, the initial extends into a surviving foliate extension terminating in the lower margin, the reverse preserves traces of text in a large proto-Gothic bookhand, written in dark ink with remains of ruling visible. Surface wear, pigment losses, rubbing, and staining from

A rare survival of Romanesque manuscript illumination from the third quarter of the twelfth century, this historiated initial can be closely associated with the artistic production of Lucca and the Cathedral scriptorium active there during this period. The letter ‘Q’, enclosing the figure of a bishop saint, is set against a brilliant blue ground. The letter itself is rendered in yellow, outlined in red, and enriched with geometric ornament in blue and red. The descender of the initial is formed by an animal, possibly a dragon, reflecting an imaginative zoomorphic vocabulary. A sister cutting, preserving an initial ‘P’ with similar interlaced decoration and almost certainly from the same parent manuscript, is known in the McCarthy Collection (BM 1178a).

Unfortunately, the original textual context of both initials cannot be securely reconstructed from the abraded fragments of text on their versos.

Both initials bear a strong stylistic resemblance to the illumination of an early Passionary preserved in the Biblioteca Capitolare of Lucca (Passionario F). On f. 4v of that manuscript, an initial ‘P’ encloses a bishop saint whose facial type, frontal pose, and ornamental setting closely parallel the present cutting. The Lucca initial also shares the same decorative vocabulary, including brightly colored geometric letterforms, interlaced ornament, and small arabesque extensions emerging from the corners of the frame. Though a minor feature, this distinctive ornamental detail suggests a shared artistic milieu. Given that Passionario F was produced during the third quarter of the twelfth century for Lucca Cathedral, probably within a scriptorium associated with the Cathedral itself, the present cutting may likewise be localized to Lucca or its immediate artistic environs and dated to the same period.

Provenance
(1) Bruce Ferrini and Les Enluminures, 1998.

(2) Robert McCarthy, London, MS BM 1178b.

Sister leaves
Ornamented initial ‘P,’ McCarthy Collection (BM 1178a).

LITERATURE
Published: Gaudenz Freuler with Georgi Parpulov, The McCarthy Collection, Vol. 1: Italian and Byzantine Miniatures, London, 2018, pp. 32– 33, no. 9; Related literature: Knut Berg, Studies in Tuscan Twelfth-Century Illumination, Oslo, 1968; Clara Baracchini, ed. I manoscritti medievali della Biblioteca Capitolare Feliniana di Lucca, Florence, 2015.
 
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