BIBLIA LATINA, 1250

Exhibited by Librairie Camille Sourget

Material Brown calf blind-stamped over wooden boardsdecorated notably with a putti motif, beveled edges, two brass clasps, spine with 7 raised bands, manuscript inscription “Biblia antiquissima manu scripta”

Dimensions 164 × 115 cm

Place of Creation Paris

Price €165,000

Status Vetted

About the Work

A true technical feat of the 13th century, the portable Bibles (or Preachers’ Bibles) never cease to amaze us with their meticulousness and elegance. Portable Bibles contain the complete text of the Vulgate in a small, easily transportable volume. The development and production of these “portable Bibles” certainly transformed reading practices and the use of the Bible among preaching circles, particularly the mendicant Orders who needed ready access to the sacred texts for their sermons. The first examples of these portable Bibles were copied in Paris at the end of the 1220s or the beginning of the 1230s, and the format was quickly adopted throughout Europe. Paris was also the dissemination center of a new version of the Vulgate, known as the “Paris Bible.” This was characterized by a new order of the biblical books, new prologues, and a new chapter system. The fine script of this copy attests to the skill of the scribes, and its elegant decoration by a Parisian workshop confirms its origin.

135 historiated initials. Rubrics in red, initials in red or blue, running titles and chapter numbers in red and blue, chapter initials spanning 3 to 8 lines alternately in red or blue with decoration in the opposite colour, 135 historiated initials, most adorned with foliage and dragons, many extending into borders decorating the margin, painted in blue, pink, green and yellow and heightened with gold.

THIS PORTABLE BIBLE CONTAINS AN IMPORTANT CYCLE OF 136 DECORATED AND HISTORIATED INITIALS OF ASTONISHING FRESHNESS. Decorated initials introduce the prologues and historiated initials introduce the biblical books.

This decoration is attributable to l'Atelier des Mathurins, a group of artists active in Paris between about 1240–1260, assembled by Robert Branner around an illuminated Breviary for the Trinitarians of Paris (Paris, BnF, Latin 1022).

Their convent buildings were located near the University of Paris where many illuminators had their workshops (on this so-called “Mathurin Workshop,” see Branner 1977, pp. 75–77). Branner speaks of three or four artists active within this workshop and notes the great regularity and stylistic similarity in these manuscripts, especially the Bibles. He observes that the workshop must have specialized in the production of manuscript Bibles: of the 25 manuscripts recorded by Branner, 21 are indeed Bibles.

Very wide margins: for leaves of 163 × 114 mm, the text area is 103 × 75 mm.

THIS COMPLETE BIBLE DATED BETWEEN 1234–1250 IS A MASTERPIECE OF PARISIAN ILLUMINATION PRODUCED UNDER THE REIGN OF SAINT LOUIS.

General condition excellent.

In the second part, remnants of quire signatures are still visible. Some leaves show notches in the blank margins; 25 of them have been repaired with old parchment.

The last five leaves of the final quire have been removed. They were probably blank. The Interpretationes nominum Hebraicorum according to the version of Remigius of Auxerre, who died in 908, are nonetheless preserved in full (l. 419r–453v).

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Provenance

Hartung & Karl sale no. 3 (“Stammbücher, Illumin. Mss., Autographen,” May 28, 1973), no. 111. Exhibited in a private presentation of medieval manuscripts, incunabula, and early illustrated books, on Thursday, October 23, 2003, in the baroque library of the Benedictine Abbey of Metten, no. 2.