Beschreibung:

Pentecost, in a historiated initial on a leaf from an Antiphonary, in Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment [Italy (Emilia-Romagna, perhaps Bologna), c. 1260-70] Single large leaf, with a large initial 'D' (opening "Dum complerentur dies pentecostes ...", the second response of the first nocturne for Pentecost), formed of light pink and orange acanthus extending into the margin and including a human head, on a blue ground with white penwork decoration, framed in light pink, enclosing the Pentecost with the twelve Apostles seated under two arches supported by a central column, large initials in red or blue with contrasting penwork, rubrics in red, capitals stroked in red, 10 lines of text with accompanying music on 4-line red staves (rastrum: 21mm.), parchment stained and cockled in places, small holes and remains of paper at edges and on verso, inscriptions '1600' and '1604' from reuse on an account book binding, 490mm. by 340mm. The illumination here shows the twelve apostles seated in an architectural setting, with faces painted in dark green and using strokes of white paint for modelling. The style is notably close to that of the Maestro d'Imola (see F. Lollini in Dizionario biografico dei miniatori italiani, 2004, p. 685) who was named after a group of choirbooks decorated for San Domenico in Imola (see Cor unum et anima una. Corali miniati della Chiesa di Imola, 1994). He was active in and around Bologna, a leading centre of manuscript production in the thirteenth and fourteenth century.