January 26th Rare Autograph & Book Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/26/2023
MEDIEVAL BIBLE LEAF, c. 1260
A lovely original leaf from a medieval manuscript pocket Bible, written in Northern France (probably Paris), c. 1260. In Latin gothic micro-minuscule script, ruled in red and written in brown ink in two columns of 43 lines on animal vellum. Rubricated: chapter numbers, TWO multi-lined illuminated Lombard style initials & elegant marginal pen-work in red & blue. The calligraphy is excellent, and the vellum is of the finest quality, extremely thin and smooth. The gothic text is written in remarkably tiny & very well-formed letters, so small that there are ten lines of text to the inch!
This leaf contains text from Ezekiel 24:8 - 26:20 (PARABLE OF A BOILING POT; PROPHECY AGAINST THOSE WITH MALICE TOWARDS THE ISRAELITES; PROPHECY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF TYRE) "Dedi sanguinen..." (I have shed her blood upon the smooth rock, that it should not be covered. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city, of which I will make a great bonfire... Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will bring against Tyre Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, the king of kings. From the north with horses & chariots, and horsemen, and companies, and much people...).
Provenance: The parent book was a "portable" Bible of the Crusades period, used in the study of theology for the preaching of the Gospel around the medieval countryside. It was in England by the 17th century; ex-collection of Lord Saltoun and later in the famous collection of William Foyle (1885-1963) at Beeligh Abbey. The Bible that contained this leaf was a very high-quality production, illuminated n Paris and similar to the accomplished work associated by Branner with the Dominican Painter see Robert Branner, Manuscript Painting in Paris during the Reign of Saint Louis).
With One of a Kind Collectibles LOA.
Medieval Bible Leaf, Northern France, c. 1260
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