Remarkable group of leaves belonging to a now dispersed but once sumptuous Psalter by the humanist scribe Pietro Ursuleo linked to the Aragonese court and the circle of Matteo Felice.
 
ii (modern paper) + 30 + ii (modern paper) leaves, foliated in a modern penciled hand 1–30, [collation: single leaves and bifolia in a modern guard binding], ruled in brown ink for a single column of nineteen lines (justification: 133 × 90 mm), written in a humanist script, capitals in blue and gold, THIRTY ILLUMINATED INITIALS, two lines high, in burnished gold on blue grounds infilled with curling white-vine stems and jewel-toned foliate scrolls, crisply outlined in black. Bound for J. H. P. Pafford in a restrained half-binding of dark green calf over blue buckram boards, spine smooth and lettered in gilt “MS. / SAEC / XV,” with plain cream paper pastedowns and flyleaves. Significant localized damage to the lower and outer margins of multiple leaves, at least twenty reinforced with modern paper guards, nearly half with pronounced water staining and tidelines, especially at the fore-edge and lower margins, causing cockling, discoloration, and softening of the vellum, some losses to lower and outer corners with occasional minor loss of text, surface moderately soiled with handling wear throughout, ink generally stable and legible, though slightly abraded in places, illumination largely intact, with minor rubbing to gold and pigments. Dimensions 174 mm × 113 mm.
 
Provenance
(1) Written for a patron in Ravenna by the humanist scribe Pietro Ursuleo (d. 1483), bishop of Satriano, elevated on his deathbed to the archbishopric of Santa Severina, and perhaps illuminated by Matteo Felice or a member of his workshop, as one of two sister volumes (the other now Trinity College, Cambridge, MS O.7.46).
 
(2) John Boykett Jarman (1782–1864) and may have been damaged in the flood that affected his library.
 
(3) His sale, Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge 13-14 June 1864, lot 161.
 
(4) James Tregaskis (1850–1926), who offered it intact in several catalogues (cat. 717, 8 January 1912, no. 485; cat. 720, c. March 1912, no. 571; and cat. 743, 1913, no. 510, then comprising 169 leaves). When unsold, he began dispersing it by individual leaves (e.g., cat. 77, 1916, no. 81). The parent volume was subsequently broken up and widely dispersed, with portions recorded in modern scholarship (Manion, Vines, and de Hamel 1989; Peter Kidd: Fragmentarium). Fragments sold at Sotheby’s (11 July 1960, lot 153) and in Alan G. Thomas (1962, cat. 14, no. 22) before additional dispersal, likely through the Folio Fine Art Society.
 
(5) J. H. P. Pafford (1900–1996), Goldsmiths’ Librarian at University College London, acquired the present 30 leaves in two purchases c. 1962 from London booksellers.
 
(6) Drewatts, London, 6 July 2021, Lot 135.
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Text
ff. 1–6, Psalms 6:4–14:1–4; ff. 7–8, Psalms 16:4–17:24; ff. 9–10, Psalms 31:3–33:10; ff. 11–15, Psalms 33:11–34:27, 35:1–37:9; ff. 16–18, Psalms 38:4–41:7; f. 19, Psalms 72:9–73:3; ff. 20–21, Psalms 106:19–108:8; f. 22, Psalms 110:9–113:2; f. 23, Psalms 143:14–144:19; f. 24, Psalms 148:9–150, followed by part of the Canticle (opening of the Song of Isaiah, here 12:1) and Isaiah 12:2–end; f. 25 Isaiah 38:9–18; f. 26, Canticles (the Prayer of Habakkuk, here 3:11–end, followed by the Song of Moses, here Deuteronomy 32:1–7; ff. 27–28, Deuteronomy 32:7–38; f. 29, Te deum (ending), Gloria (opening); f. 30, Matthew. 27:52–end.
 
Illumination
This important group of leaves derives from a distinguished Psalter written by the scribe Pietro Ursuleo of Capua, a Neapolitan cleric who rose to the episcopacy of Satriano (r. 1474–1483) within the Kingdom of Naples. Ursuleo belongs to a small but significant cohort of humanist clerics who combined pastoral office with scribal production. He is best known for a pair of Psalters, from which the present fragment derives, linked to the Aragonese court and the illuminator Matteo Felice and his workshop, though the painter’s exact role remains debated. The parent manuscript of the present leaves formed part of a twin commission. Its companion volume, a Psalter with Passion readings, is now preserved complete at Trinity College, Cambridge (MS O.7.46) and bears Ursuleo’s signed colophon. A corresponding colophon from the present manuscript was identified by Albinia C. de la Mare in 1982 in the National Library of Australia (Nan Kivell Calligraphic Collection, MS 4052/3/107), confirming the original unity of the group. The manuscript appears to have remained intact until the early twentieth century, when it was apparently broken up by the London dealer James Tregaskis.
 
The decoration of the original codex was of significant quality, with illuminations, historiated initials, and vine-scroll borders as preserved, for example, in an illumination of Saint Matthew in Columbia, South Carolina (University of South Carolina, MS 68). The Cambridge companion has been associated with Matteo Felice, but these attributions remain tentative. An initial census of surviving leaves was published by Margaret Manion, Vera Vines, and Christopher de Hamel in 1989 and has since been expanded by Peter Kidd (2014). Further efforts toward virtual reconstruction, notably those initiated by Rose Faunce (2018), have brought together fragments now dispersed across public and private collections, including examples in the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Library of Australia, and many others. The present group, assembled in the early 1960s by J. H. P. Pafford, constitutes one of the largest surviving clusters, comprising primarily single leaves and bifolia from this once sumptuous manuscript.
 
LITERATURE
Published: James Tregaskis, The Browning Collections: Catalogue of Autograph Letters and Manuscripts, Books and Works of Art…Rare Books and Manuscripts from other Sources, London, 1913, no. 743; Related literature: Montague Rhodes James, Western Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, vol. III, Cambridge, 1902, pp. 384–85, cat. 1374; Margaret Manion, Vera Vines, and Christopher de Hamel, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in New Zealand Collections, London, 1989, pp. 100–101, no. 89; Nigel Morgan, Stella Panayotova, et al., eds., Illuminated Manuscripts in Cambridge: A Catalogue of Western Book Illumination in the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Cambridge Colleges, Vol. 2, Italy and Iberian Peninsula, London, 2011, cat 316; Peter Kidd, “More on the Psalter and Passion Sequences written by Pietro Ursuleo of Capua” Medieval Manuscripts Provenance (10 May 2014); Rose Faunce, “Linking fragments of a Psalter transcribed by Pietro Ursuleo of Capua,” Fragmentarium (2018), Online reconstruction project page: https://fragmentarium.ms/view/page/F-tqtn
 
We thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Peter Bovenmyer for their assistance in preparing this sale.