Ian Ehling
Head of Department
Lot 13
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT: OBADIAH, JONAH, AND MICAH. Being a single leaf from a portable Bible in Latin,
11 December 2020, 10:00 EST
New YorkSold for US$2,550 inc. premium
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ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT: OBADIAH, JONAH, AND MICAH.
Being a single leaf from a portable Bible in Latin, with text from parts of Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah, France, mid-13th century, 153 x 103 mm, double column, 50 lines in Gothic pearl script, capitals struck in red, rubrics in red, chapter numbers and running titles in red and blue, two two-line initials in red or blue with contrasting trailing penwork (in one case running the entire length of the page), two three-line initials and one four-line initial painted pink or blue on contrasting ground and highlighted with white paint and gold dots, the ascenders or descenders extending into the margins, three four-line historiated initials, one showing the prophet Obadiah with two scrolls, another showing Jonah in prayer in the mouth of the whale, looking up at a castle (Tarshish?), and another showing a seated man in prayer and a tower (Michah and the Kingdom of Israel or Judah?). A few contemporary corrections in the margins, slight minor soiling, otherwise fine.
The three short books represented here are not of the greatest importance in the wide biblical landscape, but they do provide special opportunities for the artist, since not one, but three, initials need historiation on the same leaf. All of the scenes are executed with care, but the one with Jonah, where he is emerging from the mouth of the whale, is especially fine.
The three short books represented here are not of the greatest importance in the wide biblical landscape, but they do provide special opportunities for the artist, since not one, but three, initials need historiation on the same leaf. All of the scenes are executed with care, but the one with Jonah, where he is emerging from the mouth of the whale, is especially fine.