![ILLUMINATED INITIAL H, cutting from an ILLUMINATED BIBLE ON VELLUM [Italy, 1st half 12th century]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2006/NYR/2006_NYR_01769_0088_000(122628).jpg?w=1)
Details
ILLUMINATED INITIAL H, cutting from an ILLUMINATED BIBLE ON VELLUM [Italy, 1st half 12th century]
140 x 145mm overall. The initial staves composed of panels of green, red and purple interlace framed with yellow, and with the incipit Haec s[un]t verba in rustic display capitals, opened the Book of Deuteronomy; 17 lines from Chapter 1 continue on the verso. They are written in an elegant caroline minuscule in brown ink. The painting of the cross-stave of the H has necessitated repositioning 'verba' in the incipit -- an earlier version is only partly erased (slight smudging and 1655 written vertically on the left).
This imposing initial came from a giant Bible, a form produced throughout the 12th century, particularly associated with Italy and often known as Bibbie Atlantiche after the mythological giant who supported the sky. The development of this format, to reflect the status of the text, and often of the donor, is likely to have started in Rome in the final quarter of the 11th century. The style of this initial and the script of the verso indicate that it was painted in central Italy, very probably in Rome, no later than the second quarter of the 12th century. It is comparable in color and general form to the initials of the Bible commissioned in Rome by Henry IV, king of Germany and given to Hirsau Abbey before 1084. Sister initials from the collection of Esther Rosenbaum were sold as lot 6, Sotheby's, London, 25 April 1983.
140 x 145mm overall. The initial staves composed of panels of green, red and purple interlace framed with yellow, and with the incipit Haec s[un]t verba in rustic display capitals, opened the Book of Deuteronomy; 17 lines from Chapter 1 continue on the verso. They are written in an elegant caroline minuscule in brown ink. The painting of the cross-stave of the H has necessitated repositioning 'verba' in the incipit -- an earlier version is only partly erased (slight smudging and 1655 written vertically on the left).
This imposing initial came from a giant Bible, a form produced throughout the 12th century, particularly associated with Italy and often known as Bibbie Atlantiche after the mythological giant who supported the sky. The development of this format, to reflect the status of the text, and often of the donor, is likely to have started in Rome in the final quarter of the 11th century. The style of this initial and the script of the verso indicate that it was painted in central Italy, very probably in Rome, no later than the second quarter of the 12th century. It is comparable in color and general form to the initials of the Bible commissioned in Rome by Henry IV, king of Germany and given to Hirsau Abbey before 1084. Sister initials from the collection of Esther Rosenbaum were sold as lot 6, Sotheby's, London, 25 April 1983.