[LIGHTING] Initial H ornamented Fragment... - Lot 1 - Ader

Lot 1
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Estimation :
2000 - 2500 EUR
[LIGHTING] Initial H ornamented Fragment... - Lot 1 - Ader
[LIGHTING] Initial H ornamented Fragment from a Tempera Bible and gouache on parchment. Italy, Rome/Ombria or Tuscany?, c. 1175-1200 Dimensions: leaflet (H. 127 x L. 102 mm); initial (H. 95 x L . 85 mm) This fragment comes from a large Italian bible (of the type known as "Bibbie atlantiche" or "Giant Bibles", generally more than 400 mm high) with a yellow initial-incipit with geometric decoration ("strapwork ornament") with rosettes and cloisonné motifs (blue and red shades), a characteristic decoration of these bibles : "Inspired by the decorative repertoire of Carolingian Tours, these "Geometrical" letters, as Edward Garrison baptized them, counterbalance the unadorned solemnity of the main script, a large-lobed late Caroline minuscule devoid of obvious regional or local traits (minuscola carolina non-tippizzata)" (Yawn, 2010, p. 168). It has been argued that these very large-format Bibles of common design were most certainly conceived by the Pontifical Court as a vehicle for spreading the reforms desired by the pontiffs in the context of the reform of clerical and monastic life. There would be a political will behind the mass production of the so-called Atlantic Bibles: "[...] editorial propaganda promoted by the reform pontificate". These Bibles and their decoration were studied by Edward Garrisson (see "Additions to Masters. The Avila Bible Master", in Studies in the History of Medieval Italian Painting, IV, no. 1, 1960, p. 70, fig. 24) and the present initial has most in common with the one painted by a follower of the Avila Bible Master ("A close follower of the Avila Bible Master in a probably Umbro-Roman Bible, late third or fourth quarter of the twelfth century"). For initials of a similar invoice made in Pisa, see K. Berg, Studies in Tuscan Twelfth-century Illumination, Oslo, 1968, pp. 148, 227-228, fig. 243. Text: In Latin, in late Carolingian minuscule script (minuscola carolina non tippizzata). O
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