From a 12th Century MS containing a Key Christian Text and a Striking White-Vine Initial Featuring a Large Bird

TEXT FROM ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM'S HOMILY LXXI ON MATTHEW 22.

AN ILLUMINATED VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF FROM A LECTIONARY IN LATIN, WITH A LARGE WHITE-VINE INITIAL.

(Austria (Salzburg): second half of 12th century). 319 x 244 mm. (12 1/2 x 9 1/2"). Single column, 27 lines, in a lovely proto-gothic hand.

Rubrics in red, two one-line initials and one two-line initial in red, WITH A LARGE (140 mm.) WHITE-VINE INITIAL INHABITED BY A BIRD, outlined in red and filled in with blue and green. Lower margin of recto with a 20th century note in red ink identifying the text. Recovered from a binding and thus with overall darkening, top half of verso somewhat soiled, with top line obscured (though with all other letters on both sides very distinct), cut a little close to the thin red extension of the initial, a few minor holes (inlcuding one elongated one through the top part of the initial, with minimal loss). Even with these defects, a powerfully attractive leaf with memorable decoration and script.

Containing a beautiful proto-gothic script and an exceptional Romanesque initial, this leaf is a particularly desirable example of early Austrian manuscript production. The opening initial "F" is formed with foliate designs outlined in red, given shape by coloring in the negative space with an intense azure blue and moss green. Adding to the initial's charm is a large bird perched on one of the curving branches, turning its head to the right as if to read the text (like the initial, it is also outlined in red). The white-vine style seen here would later become a model for the Italian Humanist scribes and illuminators of 15th and 16th centuries, who substituted glistening gold leaf for the vibrant yellow paint favored by some artists of the Romanesque period. The text here is from St. John Chrysostom's homily on St. Matthew 22:34-40, an account of the Pharisees questioning Jesus on God's law, asking "which commandment in the law is the greatest?" Jesus famously replies with the key tenets of the Christian faith: "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets." This text was the Gospel reading for the 19th Sunday after Pentecost, preceded by the incipit "Frequenter iudei diversis interrogationibus" ("The Jews repeatedly tested him with various questions"). The present leaf almost certainly belonged to a Lectionary owned by a Romanesque church in Salzburg, a manuscript that was later dismembered for use in bookbinding. According to the source from which we purchased this leaf, it was shown in 1893 to the Medieval historian (and later the Abbot of St. Peter's, Salzburg) Willibald Hauthaler (1843-1922), who wrote the identification in red ink along the lower edge. It was later owned by the Salzburg-based merchant, artist, and collector Carl von Frey (1826-96). It appeared at Christie's in 2010 where (along with five sister leaves) it sold for £13,970. (ST20617c)

Price: $12,500.00