A modern forgery? - photo 1
A modern forgery? - photo 2

A modern forgery?

Lot 138
12.12.2022 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 126
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
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ID 869545
Lot 138 | A modern forgery?
Estimate value
£ 700 – 1 000
A modern forgery?
Fragment with excerpts from Carmina by Horace and Tibullus, in Latin, manuscript on vellum [Germany?, probably 19th or 20th century].
Several very early styles of script: 7th- and 8th-century Insular half-uncial, 7th/8th-century uncial, 8th-century cursive minuscule, 9th- and 10th-century Caroline minuscule, and others.

c. 295 × 110–20mm., a vertical strip, with natural flaws at the left edge, not ruled and with text at various angles and in several scripts (two sharp vertical creases, the verso unwritten and with vestiges of paste)

Provenance:
Colker MS 279; acquired in 1978 from Bernard M. Rosenthal, who reportedly could not recall when or where he acquired it

Prof. Colker had the parchment radiocarbon-dated in 1989, and this indicated a date of origin between 1640 and 1950. The piece was not necessarily intended to deceive, however: it may have been produced as an innocent writing exercise by someone wishing to practise writing ancient scripts on a spare piece of old parchment.

This item is discussed in detail in M.L. Colker, ‘An Early Witness to the texts of Horace and Tibullus, or an Audacious Forgery?’, in, The Medieval Book: Glosses from Friends & Colleagues of Christopher de Hamel, ed. by R.A. Linenthal et al. (2010), pp. 242–49: ‘If the writing is authentic, then the leaf is an important early witness to texts of Horace and Tibullus. If the writing is fake, the leaf is still of interest in the history of forgeries’ (p. 242).
Place of origin:Germany
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
28.11.2022 – 12.12.2022
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
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