Accession number
MS M.1220
Object title
Single leaf from a Pontifical.
Created
France, Avignon, 1320s
Credit line
Gift of William M. Voelkle in honor of Lucy Freeman Sandler, 2021.
Description
1 folio : vellum, matted ; 12 x 8 inches (325 x 231 mm)
Provenance
Jean XXII or someone in his court; probably Fernando Colon (c. 1488-1539); Seville, Biblioteca Colombina; probably Karl Wilhelm Hiersemann (1854-1928); purchased by William Davignon (1867-1924; his bookplate on mat, with pencil inscription "14 Jh. 1. Hälfte Englisch" and on a small label "47"); purchased by H.P. Kraus from a gallery dealing in modern art on 57th Street, 1982; purchased shortly thereafter by William M. Voelkle, 1982; gifted to the Morgan Library & Museum.
Notes
Single leaf from a Pontifical, with two historiated initials.
Illustration: 2 historiated initials; pen-flourished initials in red and blue. Historiated initial O with a bishop blessing a ciborium; historiated initial B with a bishop, accompanied by a priest, blessing a reliquary; both scenes against gilded background.
On the recto: "De b[e]n[e]dict[ione] uasculi pro heucaristia condenda fabricati," "De b[e]n[e]dict[ione] capsarum pro reliquiis [et] aliis sanctuariis conseruandis"; verso: beginning of "Prefat[i]o que d[icitu]r iu[n]ctis manib[us] an[te] pect[us]." [Benediction of vessels for keeping consecrated hosts; benediction of containers for the preservation of relics and other reliquaries; preface spoken with hands held together in front of the chest.]
Parent manuscript: Seville, Biblioteca Colombina, MS 56-1-28.
Sister leaves: Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Kupferstichkabinett, inv. 4004-10,75; Paris, École des Beaux-Arts, MS Masson 129, mn. Masson 47, mn. Masson 48, mn. Masson 53; Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS NAL 2460, fol. 19; Philadelphia, Free Library, MS Lewis E M 4, MS Lewis E M 42:18-19; Reading (PA), Public Museum, inv. 1956.32.30.10; Tokyo, National Museum of Western Art; Urbana (IL), University of Illinois, MS 174 (lost); unknown location, previously South Kensington, Christie's, 23 Nov. 2009, lot 116; unknown location, previously Philip J. Pirages, Catalog 70 (2016) (n. 370), previously London, Bloomsbury Auctions, 8 Jul. 2015, lot 52; unknown location, previously Frankfurt, H. Eismann, ca. 1929; private collection, previously London, Sam Fogg, catalogue 16 (Text Manuscripts and Documents, n. 63) (flagged as stolen); unknown location, previously Munich, Hartung & Hartung, 5 Nov. 2019 (lots 25 and 26, ex-Karl Wilhelm Hiersemann); unknown location, previously London, Sotheby's, 23 May 2017 (lot 14); unknown location, previously Amsterdam, collection of Carl Richartz.
The parent manuscript was likely made for Pope John XXII (r. 1316-1334) or for someone in his papal court, then seated in Avignon, France. It is part of a broad set of manuscripts that can be attributed to the same scriptorium (or workshop) attached to the papal court. A series of manuscripts with the works of Saint Thomas Aquinas, made for John XXII and bearing certain similarities to the pontifical (especially the filigree style used), remains in papal collections (MSS Vat. Lat. 731, 732, 738, 745, 757, 757, 784, 785, 807, 814, 2106).
M.1220, not known by Avril, comes after Paris, École des Beaux-Arts, MS Masson 129 fol. 7.
The pontifical originally contained 328 folios, of which around one hundred have been removed (according to François Avril).
Illustration: 2 historiated initials; pen-flourished initials in red and blue. Historiated initial O with a bishop blessing a ciborium; historiated initial B with a bishop, accompanied by a priest, blessing a reliquary; both scenes against gilded background.
On the recto: "De b[e]n[e]dict[ione] uasculi pro heucaristia condenda fabricati," "De b[e]n[e]dict[ione] capsarum pro reliquiis [et] aliis sanctuariis conseruandis"; verso: beginning of "Prefat[i]o que d[icitu]r iu[n]ctis manib[us] an[te] pect[us]." [Benediction of vessels for keeping consecrated hosts; benediction of containers for the preservation of relics and other reliquaries; preface spoken with hands held together in front of the chest.]
Parent manuscript: Seville, Biblioteca Colombina, MS 56-1-28.
Sister leaves: Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Kupferstichkabinett, inv. 4004-10,75; Paris, École des Beaux-Arts, MS Masson 129, mn. Masson 47, mn. Masson 48, mn. Masson 53; Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS NAL 2460, fol. 19; Philadelphia, Free Library, MS Lewis E M 4, MS Lewis E M 42:18-19; Reading (PA), Public Museum, inv. 1956.32.30.10; Tokyo, National Museum of Western Art; Urbana (IL), University of Illinois, MS 174 (lost); unknown location, previously South Kensington, Christie's, 23 Nov. 2009, lot 116; unknown location, previously Philip J. Pirages, Catalog 70 (2016) (n. 370), previously London, Bloomsbury Auctions, 8 Jul. 2015, lot 52; unknown location, previously Frankfurt, H. Eismann, ca. 1929; private collection, previously London, Sam Fogg, catalogue 16 (Text Manuscripts and Documents, n. 63) (flagged as stolen); unknown location, previously Munich, Hartung & Hartung, 5 Nov. 2019 (lots 25 and 26, ex-Karl Wilhelm Hiersemann); unknown location, previously London, Sotheby's, 23 May 2017 (lot 14); unknown location, previously Amsterdam, collection of Carl Richartz.
The parent manuscript was likely made for Pope John XXII (r. 1316-1334) or for someone in his papal court, then seated in Avignon, France. It is part of a broad set of manuscripts that can be attributed to the same scriptorium (or workshop) attached to the papal court. A series of manuscripts with the works of Saint Thomas Aquinas, made for John XXII and bearing certain similarities to the pontifical (especially the filigree style used), remains in papal collections (MSS Vat. Lat. 731, 732, 738, 745, 757, 757, 784, 785, 807, 814, 2106).
M.1220, not known by Avril, comes after Paris, École des Beaux-Arts, MS Masson 129 fol. 7.
The pontifical originally contained 328 folios, of which around one hundred have been removed (according to François Avril).
Script
rotunda
Language
Latin
Century
Catalog link
Classification
Department