Romanesque manuscript - Italy, first half of the 11th century · Latin manuscript on parchment · Ex Schøyen Collection, MS - 1050

A large parchment leaf from an Italian Passional, a collection of readings on the lives and martyrdoms of saints. The leaf preserves portions of the ’Passio Sanctae Iulianae’ and the ’Passio Sanctorum Faustini et Iovitae’, written in a large, rounded Romanesque hand in two columns of 41 lines, with red rubrics and tall capitals.

The principal decoration is a large white-vine initial ‘T’, opening the Passion of Saints Faustinus and Jovita. Parallel bands of red penwork intertwine with acanthus sprays and a geometric knot against vivid blue triangular grounds. An iridescent yellow wash gives the bands a gold-like effect.

Condition

Catalogued as being in excellent condition apart from a few smudges, wormholes and small traces of paper from a former mounting along the margins of the verso. The edges have been trimmed, removing much of the blank margins. A twentieth-century ink number ‘85’ appears in the upper inner corner of the recto. Housed in a cloth-covered card binding.

Provenance and catalogue history

1. Domenico Maria Manni (1690–1788), Florence. The annotation ‘Faustina et Jovita’ at the head of the verso is attributed to his hand.
2. Aldo Olschki (1893–1963), Florence, bookseller and publisher.
3. Bernard Rosenthal (1920–2017), San Francisco, acquired in 1959, his reference ‘I/59’.
4. Bernard Quaritch, catalogue 1147, Bookhands of the Middle Ages, V (1991), no. 31.
5. The Schøyen Collection, London and Oslo, MS 636.
6. Bloomsbury Auctions, London, The History of Western Script: A Further Selection from The Schøyen Collection, 7 December 2021.