Square neumes

Lot 38
08.11.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Prix de départ
£ 3 800
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Lieu de l'événementRoyaume-Uni, London
Commissionsee on Website%
Archive
La vente aux enchères est terminée. Vous ne pouvez plus enchérir.
Archive
ID 1053152
Lot 38 | Square neumes
Valeur estimée
£ 4 000 – 6 000
Square neumes
Two leaves from a Pontifical, in Latin, manuscript on vellum [France or Germany, mid-12th century]
From a portable Pontifical, for the private use of a bishop.

231 x 151mm, 15 lines in a Romanesque bookhand in three sizes, small neat square neumes on a 4-line pale red staff with F-clefs, added but contemporary, rubrics and initials in red. Bound in grey buckram at the Quaritch bindery.

Provenance:
(1) From a cluster of at least 8 leaves bought in 1956 by Bernard Rosenthal from Hans Koch, owner of his father Jacques' firm in Munich when under Aryan management.

(2) Bernard Rosenthal, his I/1: presumably the first item the great bookseller ever owned or catalogued.

(3) Quaritch, Bookhands III, cat. 1088 (1988), no 40.

(4) Schøyen Collection, MS 185.

Text:
The first leaf opens with the rubric 'Ordo in dedicacione ecclesie', followed by two pages of instructions on the transfer of relics to a shrine in the new church, on visiting the new church the day before, on the lighting of 12 candles around the entrance, and so on; the second leaf is part of the service of dedication itself (see Z. Obertynski, The Cracow Pontifical, 1977, p.38, nos.37-39). An adjacent bifolium from the same gathering belonged to Mark Lansburgh, and was sold at Sotheby's, 22 June 1999, lot 20. The manuscript was in gatherings of 8 leaves each, since the corrector on f.2v refers to 'ultima pagina precedentis quaternionis'.

Script and music:
The script is of high quality, widely-spaced and regular, appropriate for a bishop. The lines of music show a very early example of stave-lines and F clefs, almost unknown before the thirteenth century.
Adresse de l'enchère CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
Royaume-Uni
Aperçu
02.11.2023 09:00 – 17:00
03.11.2023 09:00 – 17:00
04.11.2023 12:00 – 17:00
05.11.2023 12:00 – 17:00
06.11.2023 09:00 – 17:00
07.11.2023 09:00 – 17:00
Téléphone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
E-mail
Commission see on Website
Conditions d'utilisationConditions d'utilisation

Termes connexes