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Details
PENTECOST, initial S on a leaf from a Gradual, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
[southern Germany or Austria, c.1500]
530 x 350mm (leaf), 145 x 110mm overall (initial). Peter and John the Evangelist placed to either side of the Virgin within the lower half of the initial curving around behind her body and in front of the other Apostles, the dove of the Holy Spirit hovering above them and against a background of rich blue; the red initial containing frondy curling acanthus and set against a parti-coloured frame of pink and green, an exuberant border of multi-coloured foliage and fantasy fruits extending the full height of the outer margin, seven lines of text written in black ink in a round gothic bookhand between seven lines of music of square notation on a four-line red stave between pairs of bounding verticals, rubrics in red, on the recto seven lines of text and music with a large red and a large blue initial and the folio number cxxviii (abrasion and small hole in lower margin, not affecting decoration). Framed.
The initial opens the Introit for Mass on the Feast of Pentecost.
The treatment of the drapery, especially the swirling folds of the Virgin's mantle, evokes the style of the limewood sculptors of southern Germany, especially Viet Stoss (c.1450-1533). The sweet round faces and decorative forms are characteristic of illumination in southern Germany and Austria; their combination with round Italian script suggests that the manuscript may have been made in the Tyrol.
with
ILLUMINATED INITIAL, opening Psalm 69, manuscript on vellum [southern Germany, c.1470]
320 x 220mm. The initial with black staves containing curling green foliage against an incised gold ground and within a parti-coloured frame of pink and blue moulding, attenuated acanthus sprays curling along the upper and side margins, 22 lines written in dark brown ink in a gothic bookhand between two verticals ruled in brown, one line initials alternately of red and blue (spotted and areas of abrasion in text). Framed. (2)
[southern Germany or Austria, c.1500]
530 x 350mm (leaf), 145 x 110mm overall (initial). Peter and John the Evangelist placed to either side of the Virgin within the lower half of the initial curving around behind her body and in front of the other Apostles, the dove of the Holy Spirit hovering above them and against a background of rich blue; the red initial containing frondy curling acanthus and set against a parti-coloured frame of pink and green, an exuberant border of multi-coloured foliage and fantasy fruits extending the full height of the outer margin, seven lines of text written in black ink in a round gothic bookhand between seven lines of music of square notation on a four-line red stave between pairs of bounding verticals, rubrics in red, on the recto seven lines of text and music with a large red and a large blue initial and the folio number cxxviii (abrasion and small hole in lower margin, not affecting decoration). Framed.
The initial opens the Introit for Mass on the Feast of Pentecost.
The treatment of the drapery, especially the swirling folds of the Virgin's mantle, evokes the style of the limewood sculptors of southern Germany, especially Viet Stoss (c.1450-1533). The sweet round faces and decorative forms are characteristic of illumination in southern Germany and Austria; their combination with round Italian script suggests that the manuscript may have been made in the Tyrol.
with
ILLUMINATED INITIAL, opening Psalm 69, manuscript on vellum [southern Germany, c.1470]
320 x 220mm. The initial with black staves containing curling green foliage against an incised gold ground and within a parti-coloured frame of pink and blue moulding, attenuated acanthus sprays curling along the upper and side margins, 22 lines written in dark brown ink in a gothic bookhand between two verticals ruled in brown, one line initials alternately of red and blue (spotted and areas of abrasion in text). Framed. (2)