Beneventan neumes

Lot 26
08.11.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 4 788
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1053140
Lot 26 | Beneventan neumes
Estimate value
£ 3 000 – 5 000
Beneventan neumes
Two leaves from an Antiphonal, in Latin, manuscript on vellum [Italy, Tuscany, early 12th century]
Two fine leaves from a Tuscan Antiphonal.

c.368 x 240mm, 2 leaves, 7 lines written in brown ink in a small, regular Carolingian minuscule, 17 lines with staffless diastematic (heightened) Beneventan neumes, rubrics and initials in red (edges frayed, marginal staining, recovered from use as pastedowns and consequently versos of each leaf scrubbed, a few wormholes, second leaf repaired down the middle with silk). Bound in grey buckram at the Quaritch bindery.

Provenance:
(1) Robert Babcock, New Haven.

(2) Bernard Quaritch, acquired in 1993 by:

(3) Schøyen Collection, MS 1767.

Text:
The text of the first leaf opens the Feasts for the Dedication of a Church: 'Fundata est domus domini'; the second leaf contains the texts for the 2nd and 3rd Sundays after Easter, beginning: '[Et sustulit] me in spiritu in montem magnum et altum'.

Script and music:
The script is a small, legible and clear Carolingian minuscule. The 1993 Quaritch description compared it to manuscripts from Pistoia and Lucca. There is a possibility that the neumes, which are here arranged with C-, F- and A-clefs, could be Tuscan rather than Beneventan. Only the epiphonus and cephalicus mark the distinctive difference from Beneventan, and they are not present in this leaf.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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