Leaf from the Gale 'Glastonbury Bible' with a large animal initial, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment [England (perhaps Glastonbury), thirteenth century] Single leaf, with a large initial 'A' (opening "Adam sech enoc chaynan...", I Chronicles 1), formed from an orange bodied wolf-like creature standing on its hind legs as a long blue dragon-like creature with a pale green face mirrors its posture while biting its face, two scrolls of coloured foliage between them terminating in an animal's mask which bites the body of the wolf, the tail of the dragon extending into the margin and terminating in coloured acanthus leaves, all on pale pink with white stars and within pale green frame, two large initials in variegated red and blue and blue on its own, these with red and blue penwork tracery, one-line initials in red or blue, red rubrics, capitals touched in red, double column of 50 lines of tiny university script, modern dealer's marks in pencil on foot of reverse (probably Ferrini), margins trimmed, small spots, else excellent condition, 197 by 150mm. An eighteenth-century inscription on the endleaf of the parent manuscript, now in a private collection, identified the volume as from the library of Glastonbury Abbey, one of the largest medieval libraries of England, and yet also one of the most elusive (N.R. Ker, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain , 1941, pp. 49-50, lists only 36 items now identifiable from their once vast holdings). It then certainly belonged to the antiquary, Roger Gale (1672-1744), who did own other books from Glastonbury (these now Cambridge, Trinity College, MSS. 1450 and 1460). The parent volume emerged on the market in Sotheby's, 22 June 1982, lot 47, and was then dispersed by Ferrini and others. Other leaves from the same parent manuscript are in the Schøyen Collection, MS 1279 (some 255 leaves of an original 438), and the Jeanne Miles Blackburn collection in the Cleveland Museum of Art ( The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations , 1999, nos. 2 and 3).
Leaf from the Gale 'Glastonbury Bible' with a large animal initial, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment [England (perhaps Glastonbury), thirteenth century] Single leaf, with a large initial 'A' (opening "Adam sech enoc chaynan...", I Chronicles 1), formed from an orange bodied wolf-like creature standing on its hind legs as a long blue dragon-like creature with a pale green face mirrors its posture while biting its face, two scrolls of coloured foliage between them terminating in an animal's mask which bites the body of the wolf, the tail of the dragon extending into the margin and terminating in coloured acanthus leaves, all on pale pink with white stars and within pale green frame, two large initials in variegated red and blue and blue on its own, these with red and blue penwork tracery, one-line initials in red or blue, red rubrics, capitals touched in red, double column of 50 lines of tiny university script, modern dealer's marks in pencil on foot of reverse (probably Ferrini), margins trimmed, small spots, else excellent condition, 197 by 150mm. An eighteenth-century inscription on the endleaf of the parent manuscript, now in a private collection, identified the volume as from the library of Glastonbury Abbey, one of the largest medieval libraries of England, and yet also one of the most elusive (N.R. Ker, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain , 1941, pp. 49-50, lists only 36 items now identifiable from their once vast holdings). It then certainly belonged to the antiquary, Roger Gale (1672-1744), who did own other books from Glastonbury (these now Cambridge, Trinity College, MSS. 1450 and 1460). The parent volume emerged on the market in Sotheby's, 22 June 1982, lot 47, and was then dispersed by Ferrini and others. Other leaves from the same parent manuscript are in the Schøyen Collection, MS 1279 (some 255 leaves of an original 438), and the Jeanne Miles Blackburn collection in the Cleveland Museum of Art ( The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations , 1999, nos. 2 and 3).
Try LotSearch and its premium features for 7 days - without any costs!
Be notified automatically about new items in upcoming auctions.
Create an alert
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
