Opening leaf from a copy of Gratian, Decretum, with a large white-vine initial, in Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment [France (probably south west, perhaps Moissac or vicinity), late twelfth century or c. 1200] Single leaf, with a very large initial 'H' (opening 'Humanum genus duobus ...', the incipit of the text; the initial 80 by 53mm.), formed from frames of interlacing geometric penwork ribbons, infilled with red wash and small oxidised panels perhaps once silver, each compartment enclosing mirrored acanthus-leaf sprays, partly on dark blue grounds and all within a penwork ribbon frame, remaining letters of first word in elaborate red capitals over two lines, simple red initials, red rubrics, double column of 59 lines (of originally 60) of a small and angular bookhand strongly influenced by university script, a few textual corrections in margin (one running vertically down the column edge), some interlinear marginalia, some spots and stains, a few wormholes and small amount of cockling, significant losses from text on reverse, 228 by 188mm. Provenance: Acquired from a European private collector in 2010. Decoration: The tightly interlacing bands that form the body of the initial here and the geometric knots at its terminals, as well as the panels set within their bodies, find their ultimate origin in the copying of initials of grand Tours Bibles. In the twelfth century they find close parallels in a group of grand codices produced in the region of Moissac, to the north of Toulouse, and its surround (see the Bible, now Paris, BnF. MSS lat. 52 and lat. 135, produced at end of eleventh century at the abbey of Saint-Pierre, Moissac: reproduced W. Cahn, Romanesque Manuscripts: the Twelfth Century, 1996, no. 28, fig. 59; another Bible, now BnF. MS lat. 7, produced c. 1100 probably in Moissac: ibid., no. 29, figs. 60-63; a New Testament, now BnF., MS lat. 254, made c. 1100 in south-west France: ibid., no. 31, figs. 68-69 and pl. III; and a Pseudo-Dionysius, De Caelesti Heirachia and other texts, made in the early twelfth century in south-western France: ibid., no. 32, figs. 64-65), and the style continued there until the middle of the century and beyond (see the Old Testament, now Auch, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 1: ibid., no. 41, figs. 91-93).
Opening leaf from a copy of Gratian, Decretum, with a large white-vine initial, in Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment [France (probably south west, perhaps Moissac or vicinity), late twelfth century or c. 1200] Single leaf, with a very large initial 'H' (opening 'Humanum genus duobus ...', the incipit of the text; the initial 80 by 53mm.), formed from frames of interlacing geometric penwork ribbons, infilled with red wash and small oxidised panels perhaps once silver, each compartment enclosing mirrored acanthus-leaf sprays, partly on dark blue grounds and all within a penwork ribbon frame, remaining letters of first word in elaborate red capitals over two lines, simple red initials, red rubrics, double column of 59 lines (of originally 60) of a small and angular bookhand strongly influenced by university script, a few textual corrections in margin (one running vertically down the column edge), some interlinear marginalia, some spots and stains, a few wormholes and small amount of cockling, significant losses from text on reverse, 228 by 188mm. Provenance: Acquired from a European private collector in 2010. Decoration: The tightly interlacing bands that form the body of the initial here and the geometric knots at its terminals, as well as the panels set within their bodies, find their ultimate origin in the copying of initials of grand Tours Bibles. In the twelfth century they find close parallels in a group of grand codices produced in the region of Moissac, to the north of Toulouse, and its surround (see the Bible, now Paris, BnF. MSS lat. 52 and lat. 135, produced at end of eleventh century at the abbey of Saint-Pierre, Moissac: reproduced W. Cahn, Romanesque Manuscripts: the Twelfth Century, 1996, no. 28, fig. 59; another Bible, now BnF. MS lat. 7, produced c. 1100 probably in Moissac: ibid., no. 29, figs. 60-63; a New Testament, now BnF., MS lat. 254, made c. 1100 in south-west France: ibid., no. 31, figs. 68-69 and pl. III; and a Pseudo-Dionysius, De Caelesti Heirachia and other texts, made in the early twelfth century in south-western France: ibid., no. 32, figs. 64-65), and the style continued there until the middle of the century and beyond (see the Old Testament, now Auch, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 1: ibid., no. 41, figs. 91-93).
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