Catalog Archive
Auction 98, Lot 464

"[Illuminated Leaf]", Anon.

Subject: Medieval Manuscripts

Period: 1300 (circa)

Publication: Bible

Color:

Size:
8.3 x 11.6 inches
21.1 x 29.5 cm
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A very old vellum leaf from a handwritten Bible. The Bible has always been the center of Christianity. However, it was not until the 13th century that it was formally organized as a single book divided up into numbered chapters. This leaf is from a Bible that was used in a church or monastery to study certain texts. The leaf is ivory white, very smooth and thin; the text is written in a regular hand. The only decorations are at the top where the name of the book is written in blue and red (Machabeorum), the numbers of the chapters XI and XII, and the initials 'E' and 'A'. The initials are decorated with penwork in red and blue all along the margins. The text is from the second book of the Maccabees, one of the Apogrypha, which are not included in most Protestant Bibles.

References:

Condition: A

Very fine except of a small part of one corner missing.

Estimate: $350 - $400

Sold for: $250

Closed on 3/6/2002

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