A fragment of a German Carolingian Bible - photo 1
A fragment of a German Carolingian Bible - photo 2

A fragment of a German Carolingian Bible

Lot 48
12.12.2022 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 882
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 869444
Lot 48 | A fragment of a German Carolingian Bible
Estimate value
£ 2 000 – 3 000
A fragment of a German Carolingian Bible
Fragment of a Bible, in Latin and transliterated Greek, decorated manuscript on vellum [Germany, mid(?) 12th century].
Fine script and a large decorated initial executed in characteristic German style: pen-drawn outlines in red ink with minimal infill and coiling stems with barely-budding vegetal terminals.

c.293 × 149mm. Preserving the upper 28 lines of one of two columns, ruled in plummet, written in a fine regular protogothic bookhand marked by Caroline minuscule letterforms, but pronounced lateral compression, ticked minims, and short ascenders and descenders, the text comprising the end of Sirach (alias Ecclesiasticus) 51:37–38 followed by the start of the common prologue to Job (‘[de]mini in laude ipsius […] Explicit liber Ihesu filii Syrach. Incipit prefacio. sancti. Hieronimini. presbyteri. In librum Iob. Cogor per singulos […] quos vel’ and ‘[te]stimonio me verum dicere […] depravata corrigere’; Stegmüller, Repertorium biblicum, no. 344), decorated with a large red pen-drawn initial filled with simple vegetal ornament (partial leaf preserving one column, cropped at the bottom with loss of text).

Provenance:
Colker MS 525; acquired probably after 2004 from Quaritch.

It is always interesting to see how medieval scribes, who usually knew no Greek, handled Greek words and passages in their texts; here we see (verso, 7 lines from the bottom) an attempt to render ‘έξαπλοΐς’.
Genre:Religious genre
Place of origin:Germany
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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28.11.2022 – 12.12.2022
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
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