.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
David harping, historiated initial 'D' cut from an illuminated Antiphonal on vellum [Italy, Emilia-Romagna, c.1260-70]
Details
Master of Imola workshop
David harping, historiated initial 'D' cut from an illuminated Antiphonal on vellum [Italy, Emilia-Romagna, c.1260-70]
A bright, distinctive illumination reminiscent of the work of an anonymous Emilian contemporary of the Imola Master.
160 x 132mm, the initial 'D' introducing the incipit of an antiphon sung on various feast days including Quinquagesima Sunday, continuing on the verso with 3 lines of text and music on a four-line stave: ‘De[us meus es] tu et confitebor [tibi deus meus e]s tu et ex[altabo te]’ (some loss of blue pigment to the lower right corner of the stave, else in good condition). Mounted and framed.
Provenance:
(1) The verso inscribed in 19th-century ink ‘3679’ and in 20th-century pencil ‘531’.
(2) Karl Katz (1929-2017), art historian, curator and museum director: his sale Script and Illumination, featuring the Karl and Elizabeth Katz Collection, Christie's, 12 December 2017, lot 20.
Illumination:
The predominantly two-tone colour scheme of deep blue for the backgrounds and bright orange-red for the letter-form and mantle of David and the simple, abstract figural style with straight nose and sharp chin find close parallels in the work of an anonymous Emilian illuminator discussed by Gaudenz Freuler in Italian Miniatures from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Centuries, 2013, I, pp.146-153, and associable to a contemporary of the Imola Master. Particularly close is a cutting with St Paul in an Initial 'Q' (G. Freuler, Italian Miniatures, p.149, no 7.3).
David harping, historiated initial 'D' cut from an illuminated Antiphonal on vellum [Italy, Emilia-Romagna, c.1260-70]
A bright, distinctive illumination reminiscent of the work of an anonymous Emilian contemporary of the Imola Master.
160 x 132mm, the initial 'D' introducing the incipit of an antiphon sung on various feast days including Quinquagesima Sunday, continuing on the verso with 3 lines of text and music on a four-line stave: ‘De[us meus es] tu et confitebor [tibi deus meus e]s tu et ex[altabo te]’ (some loss of blue pigment to the lower right corner of the stave, else in good condition). Mounted and framed.
Provenance:
(1) The verso inscribed in 19th-century ink ‘3679’ and in 20th-century pencil ‘531’.
(2) Karl Katz (1929-2017), art historian, curator and museum director: his sale Script and Illumination, featuring the Karl and Elizabeth Katz Collection, Christie's, 12 December 2017, lot 20.
Illumination:
The predominantly two-tone colour scheme of deep blue for the backgrounds and bright orange-red for the letter-form and mantle of David and the simple, abstract figural style with straight nose and sharp chin find close parallels in the work of an anonymous Emilian illuminator discussed by Gaudenz Freuler in Italian Miniatures from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Centuries, 2013, I, pp.146-153, and associable to a contemporary of the Imola Master. Particularly close is a cutting with St Paul in an Initial 'Q' (G. Freuler, Italian Miniatures, p.149, no 7.3).
Brought to you by
Eugenio Donadoni
Senior Specialist, Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts