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De beneficiis, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Southwestern Germany or Switzerland (Upper Rhine, Basel or Constance?), 2nd quarter 13th century]
Details
Seneca the Younger (d.65 AD)
De beneficiis, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Southwestern Germany or Switzerland (Upper Rhine, Basel or Constance?), 2nd quarter 13th century]
An attractively illuminated booklet of a text by one of the great post-Augustan philosophers and authors; an unusual format for a short Classical text.
c.160 x 110mm, 31 leaves loosely enclosed in a folded document as a wrapper, complete, collation: 1–38, 47 (of 8, viii cancelled, probably blank), quire signatures ‘.ii.’ and ‘iii’ survive, in the first and last gatherings prickings survive in the outer margin, but the second has prickings along the upper and lower margins, suggesting that these leaves were originally pricked for a larger volume in two columns but were turned sideways and folded in half, ruled in leadpoint for 30 lines per page, c.110 × 60mm, written above top line in a small, fine, early gothic script, rubrics in red, seven illuminated initials at the beginnings of the seven books (ff. 1, 5, 10, 14v, 19v, 22v, 28), three of them at least as tall as the height of the text, with foliage on a gold ground, most with one or more dragons, two with quadrupeds (the upper margin of f.1 cropped, probably to remove an early ownership inscription, and its outer margin stained, the gutter margin of f.25 repaired, thumbing throughout, but generally in good condition). Loose in a wrapper formed of a 15th- or early 16th-century Spanish document, c.350 × 460mm., apparently removed from another thicker book, the spine inscribed in capitals ‘Tho’s[…]iv[…]’(?) (creased, somewhat worn, and with some wormholes).
Provenance:
Les Enluminures, Text Manuscripts no 885.
Contents:
‘Incipit liber <primus Annei Se>nece de beneficiis ad Eburtium <liberalem> amicum suum feliciter. Inter multos ac varios errores […] hoc est magni animi perdere & dare. Explicit’ ff.1–31v.
‘De beneficiis is an extensive treatise in seven books about benefits and how to bestow them, about the right way of returning them, and how to deal with ingratitude […] Seneca’s fundamental theoretical move consists in distinguishing between the act of giving (beneficium) and the content of the service (materia beneficii): the latter may be returned or not, but the fact remains that the benefit possesses an intrinsic moral value’ (Mario Lentano, Brill's Companion to Seneca (2014)).
There is no obvious sign that this 31-leaf booklet was ever part of a more substantial volume, and it is difficult to suggest who might have commissioned it: its high quality illumination, with gold, suggests a wealthy bibliophile with an interest in classical texts, and the lack of marginalia suggests it may have been intended more as a show-piece than for serious study. Perhaps the original owner held a courtly position that allowed him to bestow gifts and favours on others.
The wrapper is letter of supplication to the Pope, beginning ‘Beatissime Pater’ in very large script on the top line, continuing ‘Ut animarum saluti devotorum oratorum vestrorum Jacobi Thoralles Michaelis etiam Thoralles […]; the requested privileges are listed at the bottom left, ‘de reservatis semel in vita et in mortis articulo premissis exceptis […]’; signed by the notary ‘D. Serra’.
Illumination:
The illumination is characterised by conventional dragons whose tails usually terminate in scrolling foliage against a gold ground within a two-tone blue frame. The leaves of foliage, in pale brown, pale green or pale blue, are the most distinctive feature of the first (and largest) initial: each leaf has three main sections, each of which has three points, somewhat similar to the maple leaf on the flag of Canada.
De beneficiis, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Southwestern Germany or Switzerland (Upper Rhine, Basel or Constance?), 2nd quarter 13th century]
An attractively illuminated booklet of a text by one of the great post-Augustan philosophers and authors; an unusual format for a short Classical text.
c.160 x 110mm, 31 leaves loosely enclosed in a folded document as a wrapper, complete, collation: 1–38, 47 (of 8, viii cancelled, probably blank), quire signatures ‘.ii.’ and ‘iii’ survive, in the first and last gatherings prickings survive in the outer margin, but the second has prickings along the upper and lower margins, suggesting that these leaves were originally pricked for a larger volume in two columns but were turned sideways and folded in half, ruled in leadpoint for 30 lines per page, c.110 × 60mm, written above top line in a small, fine, early gothic script, rubrics in red, seven illuminated initials at the beginnings of the seven books (ff. 1, 5, 10, 14v, 19v, 22v, 28), three of them at least as tall as the height of the text, with foliage on a gold ground, most with one or more dragons, two with quadrupeds (the upper margin of f.1 cropped, probably to remove an early ownership inscription, and its outer margin stained, the gutter margin of f.25 repaired, thumbing throughout, but generally in good condition). Loose in a wrapper formed of a 15th- or early 16th-century Spanish document, c.350 × 460mm., apparently removed from another thicker book, the spine inscribed in capitals ‘Tho’s[…]iv[…]’(?) (creased, somewhat worn, and with some wormholes).
Provenance:
Les Enluminures, Text Manuscripts no 885.
Contents:
‘Incipit liber <primus Annei Se>nece de beneficiis ad Eburtium <liberalem> amicum suum feliciter. Inter multos ac varios errores […] hoc est magni animi perdere & dare. Explicit’ ff.1–31v.
‘De beneficiis is an extensive treatise in seven books about benefits and how to bestow them, about the right way of returning them, and how to deal with ingratitude […] Seneca’s fundamental theoretical move consists in distinguishing between the act of giving (beneficium) and the content of the service (materia beneficii): the latter may be returned or not, but the fact remains that the benefit possesses an intrinsic moral value’ (Mario Lentano, Brill's Companion to Seneca (2014)).
There is no obvious sign that this 31-leaf booklet was ever part of a more substantial volume, and it is difficult to suggest who might have commissioned it: its high quality illumination, with gold, suggests a wealthy bibliophile with an interest in classical texts, and the lack of marginalia suggests it may have been intended more as a show-piece than for serious study. Perhaps the original owner held a courtly position that allowed him to bestow gifts and favours on others.
The wrapper is letter of supplication to the Pope, beginning ‘Beatissime Pater’ in very large script on the top line, continuing ‘Ut animarum saluti devotorum oratorum vestrorum Jacobi Thoralles Michaelis etiam Thoralles […]; the requested privileges are listed at the bottom left, ‘de reservatis semel in vita et in mortis articulo premissis exceptis […]’; signed by the notary ‘D. Serra’.
Illumination:
The illumination is characterised by conventional dragons whose tails usually terminate in scrolling foliage against a gold ground within a two-tone blue frame. The leaves of foliage, in pale brown, pale green or pale blue, are the most distinctive feature of the first (and largest) initial: each leaf has three main sections, each of which has three points, somewhat similar to the maple leaf on the flag of Canada.
Brought to you by
Eugenio Donadoni
Senior Specialist, Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts