Leaf from a well-known Cistercian Breviary, in Latin, illuminated

Leaf from a well-known Cistercian Breviary, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum, [France (Picardy), thirteenth century], single leaf with text in double columns of 25 lines of two sizes of a good gothic bookhand, verso with quire signature “XV” and tiny catchword in bas-de-page, capitals in ornamental penstrokes and touched in red, red rubrics, seven 2- to 4-line initials in blue or pink enclosing coloured foliage on gold grounds, the largest (‘L’) containing a tiny detailed red cross bottony within a roundel, and several with fleshy foliate extensions into the margin, modern pencil pagination ‘115/116’, discoloured strip along innerside of leaf probably from use of glue in binding of parent-volume, a few spots and stains, else excellent condition, 160 x 105mm. *** The parent volume of this leaf contained eighteenth- and nineteenth-century inscriptions suggesting that it was then in Vouray, east of Tours in the Loire valley, and the addition of the cross bottony (a common variant of the crosslet in medieval heraldry) here might be a nod towards the arms or affiliations of the original owner. Other leaves can be found in Maggs, Bulletin, 20, nos. 42-43, cat. 1262 (1998), no. 13; Sotheby’s, 19 June 2001, lot 10, 6 December in the same year, lot 2, 5 July 2005, lot 90 (the substantial remnant of 128 leaves), 6 December 2005, lot 10, 29 June 2007, lot 4, among others.

Estimate:£300

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