Western Manuscripts and Miniatures

A fine example of twelfth-century Tuscan Romanesque illumination with a large zoomorphic initial ‘A’.

240 × 135 mm, a vertical cutting preserving part of a leaf from a large-format Bible, ruled in plummet and written in two columns in a proto-Gothic bookhand, with remains of adjacent text column at left, ONE LARGE DECORATED ZOOMORPHIC INITIAL ‘A’, approximately fourteen lines high, formed of interlacing white-vine ornament and stylized foliage inhabited by a dragon or serpent-like creature, the body of the letter painted in red, green, yellow, and blue, with scrolling terminals and delicate pen ornament. Some cropping affecting the surrounding text, minor staining and surface wear, otherwise preserving bright pigments and strong decorative detail.

A fine example of twelfth-century Tuscan Romanesque illumination, this cutting preserves a large zoomorphic initial ‘A’ from a manuscript of Saint Ambrose’s De patriarchis. The letter is drawn in red and constructed around a dynamic dragon form, whose elongated body forms the left side of the initial and bites into the surrounding field. The interior is filled with interlacing white-vine scrolls set against alternating grounds of blue, green, and yellow, creating a vibrant interplay of color and ornament characteristic of central Italian manuscript decoration. A sister cutting from the same parent manuscript in the McCarthy Collection (BM 1612) preserves a similarly conceived initial composed of interwoven vine stems, confirming that both fragments belonged to the same decorative program. The bold palette, zoomorphic forms, and disciplined arrangement of vegetal ornament connect these initials with manuscripts produced in Tuscan scriptoria around the middle of the twelfth century.

Provenance
(1) London, Maggs Bros., Catalogue 1376, 2005, item 5.

(2) Robert McCarthy, London, no. BM 1610.

Parent manuscript and sister leaves
A sister cutting containing an ornamented initial ‘S’ is also in the McCarthy Collection (MS BM 1612)

LITERATURE
Published: Maggs Brothers, London, Catalogue 1376, 2005, no. 5; Gaudenz Freuler with Georgi Parpulov, The McCarthy Collection, Volume I: Italian and Byzantine Miniatures, London, 2018, p. 30, no. 8b.

We are grateful to Peter Kidd 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