Two leaves from the ‘Chudleigh Bible’, in Latin, illuminated manuscript

Two leaves from the ‘Chudleigh Bible’, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum, [north-eastern France (perhaps Arras), c. 1220-30], two single leaves: (a) main-text leaf in double column of 53 lines of a good gothic bookhand, capitals stroked in red, rubrics in red, running titles and chapter numbers alternately in red and blue, initials in red or blue with contrasting pen-flourishing, with wide margins, one large brown stain to blank margin, small spots and marks, 284 x 195mm.; (b) leaf from the Interpretation of the Hebrew Names, in three columns of 53 lines of a tall University script, rubric and line-fillers in red penwork, one-line initials in red or blue, running titles in miniscule letters (‘b’) between blue penwork strokes, these at beginning and end of each column at head of leaf, one 2-line initial ‘B’ in red with simple blue penwork, small spots and stains, slight cockling, else excellent condition, 285 x 193mm. *** These leaves are from the ‘Chudleigh Bible’, once in the library of Baron Clifford of Chudleigh (sold in his sale at Sotheby’s, 7 December 1953, lot 51; and reappearing again, 8 July 1970, lot 104, and in Christie’s, 11 July 1974, lot 18). R. Branner identified it one of a series of manuscripts from Saint-Vaast at Arras (Manuscript Painting In Paris During The Reign Of Saint Louis, 1997, p. 30, n. 17) and further scholarly comment has been made by P. Kidd in his catalogue of the French manuscripts in the McCarthy Collection (The McCarthy Collection, III: French Miniatures, 2021, no. 17) and on the ‘manuscriptevidence.org’ website. Single leaves have appeared in Quaritch, cat.1147 (1991), no. 15; Maggs, cat. 1167 (1993), no 2; and Sotheby’s, 6 December 2005, lot 16 and 8 July 2014, lots 13-14, among others. The second leaf here was acquired by the present owner in Bloomsbury Auctions, 7 December 2016, lot 12.

Estimate:£600

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