large historiated initial on a single leaf from a Psalter, illuminated manuscript, in Latin, on vellum [probably Rhineland or perhaps England, late thirteenth century] Single leaf, with 20 lines in a good Gothic hand, 1-line initials in blue or liquid gold with blue or red penwork to contrast, numerous highly decorative line-fillers in a wide variety of styles (with flowers, stylised leaves and a repeating series of three-lobed patterns enclosing a small blue geometric shape, perhaps that of a castle), a blue penwork dragon with a red tongue, one 4-line historiated initial 'D' (but apparently not opening anything, perhaps a mistake by the illuminator who was meant to fill the space left with an 'F' to open the next line “Fili redemptor mundio ...”) in orange heightened with circles, enclosing a tonsured monk in dark blue robes standing and holding up a long thin book, all on a brightly burnished gold ground, initial terminating in long thin blue tendril with a gold three-lobed flower, modern pencil notes '203' and '643' on verso, good condition, 178mm. by 135mm. This leaf is from a well-known and richly illustrated liturgical Psalter, which apparently included the Hours of the Virgin and the Office of the Dead. It was broken up, perhaps in France in the 1960s, and leaves first appeared in England in the Folio Fine Art cat.43 (February 1967), Maggs Bulletin 5 (April 1967), and Alan Thomas cats.19, nos.17a-e and 21, nos. 22 and 22a (see The Rendells cat.146, lots 85-6; Sotheby's, 17 December 1991, lot 4, and 7 December 1992, lot 6, and 5 December 2006, as part of lot 52, and 4 December 2007, lot 19, for more recent sales). Three leaves were described in detail in J.M. Plotzek, Andachtsbücher des Mittelalters, 1987, p. 84, no. 8, relating them to Rhenish work of c. 1260. The penwork drollery-creature line-fillers have their closest parallels to the Salvin Hours (British Library, Addit. MS.48,985) and are similar to those in an English Psalter in Krivoklát Castle in the Czech Republic and the Windmill Psalter in the Morgan Library (N. Morgan, Early Gothic MSS, II, 1250-1285, 1988, p.150). All of the leaves which have come to light have a number of penwork drollery-creatures, but few have any historiated initials (for another see that in Sotheby's, 4 December 2007, lot 19, which made £3750), and to find one with burnished gold is rare.
large historiated initial on a single leaf from a Psalter, illuminated manuscript, in Latin, on vellum [probably Rhineland or perhaps England, late thirteenth century] Single leaf, with 20 lines in a good Gothic hand, 1-line initials in blue or liquid gold with blue or red penwork to contrast, numerous highly decorative line-fillers in a wide variety of styles (with flowers, stylised leaves and a repeating series of three-lobed patterns enclosing a small blue geometric shape, perhaps that of a castle), a blue penwork dragon with a red tongue, one 4-line historiated initial 'D' (but apparently not opening anything, perhaps a mistake by the illuminator who was meant to fill the space left with an 'F' to open the next line “Fili redemptor mundio ...”) in orange heightened with circles, enclosing a tonsured monk in dark blue robes standing and holding up a long thin book, all on a brightly burnished gold ground, initial terminating in long thin blue tendril with a gold three-lobed flower, modern pencil notes '203' and '643' on verso, good condition, 178mm. by 135mm. This leaf is from a well-known and richly illustrated liturgical Psalter, which apparently included the Hours of the Virgin and the Office of the Dead. It was broken up, perhaps in France in the 1960s, and leaves first appeared in England in the Folio Fine Art cat.43 (February 1967), Maggs Bulletin 5 (April 1967), and Alan Thomas cats.19, nos.17a-e and 21, nos. 22 and 22a (see The Rendells cat.146, lots 85-6; Sotheby's, 17 December 1991, lot 4, and 7 December 1992, lot 6, and 5 December 2006, as part of lot 52, and 4 December 2007, lot 19, for more recent sales). Three leaves were described in detail in J.M. Plotzek, Andachtsbücher des Mittelalters, 1987, p. 84, no. 8, relating them to Rhenish work of c. 1260. The penwork drollery-creature line-fillers have their closest parallels to the Salvin Hours (British Library, Addit. MS.48,985) and are similar to those in an English Psalter in Krivoklát Castle in the Czech Republic and the Windmill Psalter in the Morgan Library (N. Morgan, Early Gothic MSS, II, 1250-1285, 1988, p.150). All of the leaves which have come to light have a number of penwork drollery-creatures, but few have any historiated initials (for another see that in Sotheby's, 4 December 2007, lot 19, which made £3750), and to find one with burnished gold is rare.
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.jpg "Quelle: Christie's")
.jpg "Quelle: Christie's")
