DR. JÖRN GÜNTHER · RARE BOOKS AG 1 Manuskripte und seltene Bücher THE BIBLE OF AULNE ABBEY, THE BEST BIBLE IN PRIVATE HANDS Biblia Latina – Illuminated manuscript on vellum Flanders (Hainault?) or Northern France(?), c. 1240-50 272 x 180 mm. 381 leaves, complete (one leaf detached but present): I16, II-X12, XI12+4 [fol. 135-8 are 2 bifolia inserted into the gathering], XII-XXVII12, XXVIII10, XXIX10-2 [2 blank leaves missing], XXXXXXI12, XXXII8-1 [one blank missing], with some signatures in Roman numerals at ends of gatherings I, IV, XI-XII, XXI-XXIII, XXV, XXVI etc., modern pencil quire numbers in upper outer margin. Written space: 185-194 x 119 mm, ruled in brown ink for 52-58 lines in double column; text begins above top line except in first gathering and in the Interpretations, written by several scribes (and corrected by several more) in brown ink in a small very early gothic bookhand, many early textual corrections either neatly inserted in the text itself or supplied in margins with signes-de-renvoi, and the additions in decorative red cartouches (usually circular in gathering VII, and thereafter usually rectangular), some rubrics in red, sometimes at ends of columns in a larger ‘documentary script’ to fill empty lines above, versal initials in the Psalms and the Interpretations alternately red or blue, chapternumbers and running-titles in alternate red and blue letters with decorative penwork flourishes in both colours, three-line decorated initials throughout, usually one or two to every page, in red or blue with penwork infilling and marginal decoration in the contrasting colour, 60 large illuminated initials, 3to 39-line, in elaborate designs of lush interlaced leafy and plant designs or formed of twisting biting dragons, all in full shaded colour heightened with white and on highly burnished raised gold grounds, 87 very fine historiated initials, six-line to full height of page in full colour in leafy and floral designs with miniatures on highly burnished raised gold grounds and often with long marginal Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG · Mosboden 1 · 6063 Stalden · Schweiz Office: Spalenberg 55 · 4051 Basel · Fon +41 61 275 7575 · Fax +41 61 275 7576 [email protected] · www.guenther-rarebooks.com DR. JÖRN GÜNTHER · RARE BOOKS AG 2 Manuskripte und seltene Bücher extensions, elaborate terminals and other decoration. – 3 initials cut out (in 1787, see below), two of them on fol. 321 and 344 replaced with contemporary initials from other manuscripts, one on fol. 313 still missing; outer margin cut away from fol. 287, two margins cut away from fol. 380, small piece of lower margin replaced on fol. 260, some slight wear, minimal staining at ends including rust mark on lower edge of last page, probably from the hasp of a chained binding, a few initials including the Genesis initial slightly rubbed, generally in good condition with good margins (some prickings intact). – Bound in brown morocco with a semé of fleurs-de-lys gilt adapted from another binding, old spine title, gilt edges, in a fitted case. PROVENANCE 1. The manuscript has a 15th- or 16th-century ownership inscription on fol. 381v, “Liber beate marie Virginis de Alna”, and an apparently identical but smudged inscription on the previous page, which is the usual form of ex-libris of Aulne Abbey (Zelis 1974, p. 104). The great Cistercian Abbey of Aulne-sur-Sambre, in Hainault in the diocese of Liège, founded in the midseventh century, became Cistercian in 1147, was rebuilt in great splendour in the early 18th century, and burnt by the French in 1794 and sold two years later (Canivez 1926, pp. 84-93). There is no medieval catalogue of Aulne Abbey, but the monks systematically built up their library in the 12th and early 13th century. The present book is recorded in the catalogue of March 1632 as the first book on the first shelf in the Bible press, “Biblia integra” (Sander 1644, p. 235). An indignant note on the last page records that two historiated initials towards the end of the book, “G” and “U” (fol. 321b and 344), were cut out in within a short period of time in June 1787. There is an erased circular stamp on the front pastedown (perhaps a standing figure of the Virgin and Child) and a modern number “MM. No. 23B”. The great library at Aulne Abbey was one of the finest in Flanders (Zelis 1969, p. 381). The great majority of the manuscripts – 114 of them – were bought en bloc by Sir Thomas Phillipps in the early 1830s and almost all were purchased from the Phillipps Collection by the Bibliothèque Royale in Brussels in June 1888 (Munby, Phillipps Studies, III, pp. 22-23, V, p. 30). One more, a volume of Herbert of Bosham, reappeared in the Phillipps sale at Sotheby’s, 25 November 1969, lot 449, and is now the Brussels manuscript ms. IV 600. Ten Aulne manuscripts are recorded outside Belgium: three in French public libraries (one lost since 1918), one each in the British Library and the Bodleian, three more and two single leaves in the United States. The present volume is the monastery’s only complete Bible (the foundation text of Cistercian abbeys) and is the only Aulne manuscript in private hands (Van Balberghe/Zelis 1972, p. 352 f.). Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG · Mosboden 1 · 6063 Stalden · Schweiz Office: Spalenberg 55 · 4051 Basel · Fon +41 61 275 7575 · Fax +41 61 275 7576 [email protected] · www.guenther-rarebooks.com DR. JÖRN GÜNTHER · RARE BOOKS AG 3 Manuskripte und seltene Bücher 2. Hotel Drouot, 18 May 1965, lot 1. 3. The book was recorded in 1972 as in a private collection (Van Balberghe/Zelis 1972, p. 352) and in 1974 (Zelis 1974, p. 109) as untraced. 4. Sotheby’s, 8 December 1981, lot 70. 5. Private Collection, Switzerland. Shelfmark, Ms 1203 ES, on lower spine of leather box. TEXT fol. 1-20a: Prologue of St Jerome (“Frater Ambrosius”) and Genesis - fol. 20a-31vb: Exodus fol. 31vb-40b: Leviticus - fol. 40b-51va: Numbers - fol. 51va-60vb: Deuteronomy - fol. 60vb67vb: Prologue and Book Joshua - fol. 67vb-74va: Judges - fol. 74va-75va: Ruth - fol. 75va85b: Prologue and I Kings - fol. 85b-93a: II Kings - fol. 93a-102a: III Kings - fol. 102a-110b: IV Kings - fol. 110b-118va: Prologue and I Paralipomenon (Chronicles I)- fol. 118va-128b: II Paralipomenon (Chronicles II) - fol. 128b-131b: Prologue and First Book of Ezra - fol. 131b135a: Nehemias - fol. 135a-139a: Second Book of Ezra; fol. 139a: last 18 lines of Nehemias again, as remains of a scribal error (s. a.) - fol. 139a-142a: Prologue and Book of Tobias - fol. 142a-146a: Prologue and Book of Judith - fol. 146a-149vb: Prologue and Book of Esther fol. 149vb-157a: Two Prologues and Book of Job - fol. 157a-176b: Prologue and Psalms, including “altera revisionis aggie et zacharie” - fol. 176b-190a: Prologue and Book of Isaiah fol. 190a-191va: Prologue and Book of Baruch - fol. 191vb-207vb: Book of Jeremiah - fol. 207vb-209b: Lamentations and Prayers of Jeremiah - fol. 209b-224a: Prologue and Book of Ezekiel (no initial for the prologue; incorrect headline only on fol. 200v, erroneously anticipating Maccabees) - fol. 224a-230va: Two Prologues and Book of Daniel - fol. 230va232vb: Two Prologues to the twelve Prophets and Book of Hosea - fol. 232vb-233vb: Two Prologues and Book of Joel - fol. 233vb-235vb: Three Prologues and Book of Amos - fol. 235vb-236b: Two Prologues and Book of Abdias - fol. 236b-237va: Two Prologues and Book of Jonah - fol. 237va-238va: Two Prologues and Book of Micah - fol. 238va-239va: Two Prologues and Book of Nahum - fol. 239va-240va: Prologue and Book of Habakkuk - fol. 240va-241b:Two Prologues and Book of Sophonias - fol. 241va-242b: Two Prologues and Book of Haggai - fol. 242b-244vb: Three Prologues and Book of Zechariah - fol. 245a-245vb: Prologue and Book of Malachi - fol. 245vb-255a: Three Prologues and Maccabees I - fol. 255a-260va: Maccabees II - fol. 260va-266b: Prologue and Proverbs (there is an empty space of 31 lines after the first prologue, perhaps originally intended for a second one) - fol. 266b268va: Prologue and Book of Ecclesiastes - fol. 268va-269vb: Song of Songs - fol. 269vb273vb: Prologue and Book of Sapience - fol. 274a-284vb: Prologue and Book of Ecclesiasticus - fol. 285a-292vb: Prologue and Gospels of Matthew - fol. 293a-298a: Prologue and Gospels of Mark - fol. 298a-306vb: Two Prologues and Gospels of Luke - fol. 306vb-313b: Prologue and Gospels of John - fol. 313b-331vb: Pauline Epistles: fol. 313b316b: Prologue and letter to the Romans, fol. 316b-319va: Prologue and Corinthians I, fol. 319va-321vb: Prologue and Corinthians II, fol. 321vb-322vb: Prologue and Galatians, fol. 323a-324a: Prologue and Ephesians, fol. 324a-325a: Prologue and Philippians, fol. 325a325vb: Prologue and Colossians, fol. 325vb-326va: Prologue and Thessalonians I (heading erased on fol. 325v), fol. 326va-327a: Prologue and Thessalonians II, fol. 327a-327vb: Prologue and Timothy I, fol. 328a-328va: Prologue and Timothy II, fol. 328va-329a: Prologue and Titus, fol. 329a-329b: Prologue and Philemon, fol. 329va-331vb: Hebrews - fol. 331vb-340va: Two Prologues and Acts - fol. 340vb-341vb: Prologue and letter of James - fol. Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG · Mosboden 1 · 6063 Stalden · Schweiz Office: Spalenberg 55 · 4051 Basel · Fon +41 61 275 7575 · Fax +41 61 275 7576 [email protected] · www.guenther-rarebooks.com DR. JÖRN GÜNTHER · RARE BOOKS AG 4 Manuskripte und seltene Bücher 341vb-342va: Letter of Peter - fol. 342va-343b: Second letter of Peter - fol. 343b-344a: Letter of John - fol. 344a-344b: Prologue and Second Epistle of John - fol. 344b-344va: Prologue and Third Epistle of John - fol. 344va-344vb: Prologue and Epistle of St Jude - fol. 344vb: Prologue of Apocalypse (c. 13 lines missing as the miniature on the recto has been excised); fol. 345a: blank - fol. 345b-349a: Apocalypse - fol. 349a-349v: Amendments and additions to various books of the Bible; fol. 350: blank - fol. 351-380: Interpretation of Hebrew Names (“Aad testificans” Stegmüller, RB 7708, 7709) (margins of fol. 380 have been trimmed); fol. 380v-381: blank. The text itself presents a number of points of interest. The Books of Solomon occur at the end of the Old Testament rather than after the Psalms. Prologues were gradually introduced into Bible texts in the very early thirteenth century, and in this bible, various additions to prologues and other texts were added by the corrector on fol. 349-349b. The scribe first omitted all of II Esdras (“a mark of general earliness” – Branner 1977, p. 31) and went on with Tobit, realised the error, erased the end of the text on fol. 139 (the last 18 lines remain, Nehemiah 13:24-31, marked “vacat”) and added II Esdras on two inserted bifolia, fol. 135-38. The very few abbreviations in the text, as well as several readings in it, suggest that the manuscript contains the monastic version of the text rather than the Paris redaction (cf. in the book of Ruth, where we find “posita revertendi” instead of “revertendi posita”), which implies that it was written for use in a monastery. Moreover, there are only very few barred tironian ‘et’, which would be typical for Paris, and the forms of some of the capital letters (Q, N, E, L) are not typical for Paris either. The forms of the penwork initials, the fleuronnée, and the colours of the initials indicate that the manuscript was probably made in the second quarter of the 13th century (cf. the Parisian examples in Stirnemann 1990). Some of the explicits are written in a kind of a documentary script, occasionally rubricated. The amendments and additions to various books of the Bible (fol. 349), with many ligatures and abbreviations, are written in a smaller script, probably by the same hand that added the comments and notes in the cartouches throughout the manuscript. When manuscripts were designed, the head of the workshop would sometimes note in plummet an indication of the subject which the artist was to depict, and occasionally – usually with late medieval manuscripts – these notes survive: a curious echo of one such note appears on fol. 321b. The initial shows the Baptism of St Paul, and in the heading just above, the rubricator has somehow mistaken an instruction for a title of the book and neatly written in red “explicit prologus; incipit epistola. hic. baptizat ananias paulum.” ILLUMINATION Historiated initials: fol. 1: Jerome writing – fol. 3: Genesis initial: Seven Days of Creation, in Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG · Mosboden 1 · 6063 Stalden · Schweiz Office: Spalenberg 55 · 4051 Basel · Fon +41 61 275 7575 · Fax +41 61 275 7576 [email protected] · www.guenther-rarebooks.com DR. JÖRN GÜNTHER · RARE BOOKS AG 5 Manuskripte und seltene Bücher the spaces between these scenes, Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve eating the fruit and God appearing to them, an angel driving them from the Garden, Eve spinning and Adam digging, the Annunciation to the Virgin, the Nativity of Christ and the Annunciation to the Shepherds, and the Presentation in the Temple; at the top are two angels and at the bottom the figures of the Church and the Synagogue – fol. 20: Moses presenting the Ten Commandments - fol. 31v: Offering - fol. 40: Moses preaching - fol. 51v: Moses explaining the Law - fol. 61: Rahab the harlot with the two men sent by the king of Jericho - fol. 67v: The spy showing the entrance of the city of Bethel to the troops of the house of Joseph - fol. 74v: Ruth and her two children - fol. 76: Elcana and Anna in prayer - fol. 85: David supervising the execution of the Amalekite - fol. 93: Two attendants bringing Abishag to David - fol. 102: Ahaziah falling from the tower - fol. 110v: A crowd of Jews - fol. 118v: Solomon enthroned between two attendants - fol. 128v: Cyrus directing the building of the Temple - fol. 131: A prophet and two companions before Artaxerxes - fol. 135: Offering - fol. 139: Tobit and an attendant with the swallow - fol. 142: Judith and Holofernes - fol. 146: Esther and Ahasver; Haman hanging - fol. 150: Job with his friends - fol. 157v: David harping; David and Goliath - fol. 160: A prophet anointing a man's eyes - fol. 161v: David pointing to his eye and to his tongue - fol. 163v: David with the Devil - fol. 163v: David with a fool - fol. 165v: David in the water - fol. 167v: David playing a set of bells, his harp next to him - fol. 169v: Two singers at the lectern - fol. 170: David praying - fol. 172: Trinity - fol. 176v: Isaiah sawn - fol. 190: Baruch and a scribe writing - fol. 191v: The lapidation of Jeremiah - fol. 207v: Jeremiah lamenting over Jerusalem - fol. 209v: The vision of Ezechiel - fol. 224v: Daniel in the lions' den - fol. 230v: Hosea and Gomer - fol. 233: Joel preaching - fol. 234: Amos predicting the destruction of cities - fol. 236: Obadiah watching the building of a castle - fol. 236v: Jonah and the whale fol. 237: Micah showing a sword to two kings - fol. 238v: The people of Nineveh taken captive - fol. 239v: The Nativity of Christ - fol. 240v: A king sacrificing (?) two naked children on an altar - fol. 241v: Haggai - fol. 242v: Zechariah tempted by the Devil - fol. 245: Jacob and Isaac - fol. 246: Beheading of the idolatrous Jew - fol. 255: Delivery of a letter fol. 261: Solomon and Rehoboam - fol. 266v: Solomon and two women - fol. 268v: Christ and the Church as lovers - fol. 269v: Solomon with the scales of Justice between two attendants - fol. 274: Solomon teaching - fol. 285: Matthew writing. This miniature adjacent to the next: Jesse tree, with Jesse asleep in a bed - fol. 293: Mark writing - fol. 298: Luke writing - fol. 298v: The angel appearing to Zacharias in the Temple - fol. 306v: John writing fol. 307: three compartments: Mary and Christ at the marriage at Cana; Christ turning water into wine; the ruler of the feast and his wife being served the miraculous wine – fol. 313: miniature missing – fol. 316v: The Corinthians outside their city - fol. 319v: St Paul healing a sick man - fol. 32lv: A prophet and a woman (cutting from another manuscript) - fol. 321v: Ananias baptising Paul - fol. 323: Paul preaching - fol. 324: An angel lowering Paul in a basket over the city wall while a group of soldiers look the other way - fol. 325: A crowd of believers at Colosse protecting Paul - fol. 325v: God staying the hands of a crowd about to stone Paul - fol. 326v: The faithful praying while their city is destroyed - fol. 327: The scourging of two Christians at the direction of the Jewish elders – fol. 328: Soldiers visiting two men in prison - fol. 328v: Paul with an attendant before Caesar - fol. 329: The beheading of Paul - fol. 329v: A man and a woman holding a garment between them. Paul returns the veil to Plautilla - fol. 332: The Ascension of Christ - fol. 340v: James - fol. 341v: Peter with the keys - fol. 342v: Peter trying to walk on the water - fol. 343: John preaching - fol. 344: John preaching - fol. 344: John preaching - fol. 344v: Jude - fol. 345: John writing. Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG · Mosboden 1 · 6063 Stalden · Schweiz Office: Spalenberg 55 · 4051 Basel · Fon +41 61 275 7575 · Fax +41 61 275 7576 [email protected] · www.guenther-rarebooks.com DR. JÖRN GÜNTHER · RARE BOOKS AG 6 Manuskripte und seltene Bücher The number and size of the miniatures, and the quality of their painting, are altogether exceptional. The manuscript shows the collaboration of two quite distinct artists, both of them notable for their skill and originality. The first painter produced gatherings I-II, XVI-XVIII, XXI and XXIV-end; his style is fully gothic, backgrounds include wide expanses of highly burnished gold and there are some splendid architectural canopies and buildings. The proportions of his figures appear coherent and harmonious. The physiognomies of his figures are characterised by red lips and cheeks, the lines for the mouths often elongated in a half circle towards the chin. Eyebrows tend to be more rounded and noses a bit smaller. Most of his male figures are bearded, and if not, their chins are marked with a peculiar line that makes the chin appear as if it is an independent element attached to the face. He directs the gaze of the eyes carefully, and the colour of the skin is not as pale a shade of white as with the second painter. The second painter produced gatherings III-XIV, XIX-XX, and XXII-XXIII; his figures are wild and vivid and a characteristic device is the “M”-shaped mouth; the style is startlingly dynamic and still shows the power and savagery of high Romanesque art. The eyes of his figures are wide open, often staring at the viewer or at other figures. Their jaws are mostly square shaped, sometimes lending a ‘horse-like’ expression to their features. Heads and hands appear slightly disproportionate in relation to the rest of the squat figures. This illuminator employs a slightly paler red for garments and drapery than the first painter. On the whole, however, both artists conceive the draperies and folds of clothes very similarly by shading them with darker hues and strong, straight, black lines –, an early example of the so-called large-fold style, which is a hallmark of Flemish or South Netherlands manuscripts, as illustrated by the Old Testament Picture Bible made in Bruges, c. 1250-60 (New York, PML, M. 638). In some miniatures it is difficult to discern the hand of either artist, as the first sometimes uses the ‘M-shaped’ mouth or the ‘attached chin’, and the second sometimes also employs the elongated lip-lines or the soft wavy beards on the male figures. Both painters also sometimes employ a pattern of white dots to enhance clothing. Tunics and blankets have wavy hemlines, and the collars are not just round or square, but exhibit a range of irregular shapes. Their palette is almost identical, and is characterized by strong red, mauve and blue tones, and also by a preference for various shades of bright tangerine with red, and many shades of green, which would not be usual for Paris at that time. Both artists also employ a similar decorative scheme for the bodies of initials: framed initials on highly burnished gold grounds, often enhanced with long framed extensions and antennae composed of biting and twisted elongated dragons or spiralling tendrils. Some initials have scissor-like bars at the uprights of initials (e.g. ‘U’ on fol. 234rb), and some have a lip of foliage overlapping the horizontals. Both these elements are characteristic of northern French and Flemish illumination. In contrast, there are many Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG · Mosboden 1 · 6063 Stalden · Schweiz Office: Spalenberg 55 · 4051 Basel · Fon +41 61 275 7575 · Fax +41 61 275 7576 [email protected] · www.guenther-rarebooks.com DR. JÖRN GÜNTHER · RARE BOOKS AG 7 Manuskripte und seltene Bücher decorated initials either with tendrils or, more peculiarly, with octopus foliage (e.g. on fol. 233v), a stylistic borrowing from England that was no longer found in French manuscripts of the period. These differences and similarities in the styles of both illuminators, and the coherent decoration of all the initials, could point to a group of artists who attempted to adjust their ‘individual’ styles to a particular workshop-style. Perhaps one was the apprentice of the other, or, more likely, one of them was originally trained in a different artistic region, and joined the other later, either in a professional workshop, or in a monastery. The manuscript’s earliest provenance is a great monastery in southern Flanders; with regard to its origin, it should be noted that the contemporaneous style of the exceptional Psalter of Blanche of Castile (Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, lat. 1186, made c. 1230) reached Paris from north eastern France, and that other related bibles were apparently made for south Flemish houses in towns like Lille and Arras (Douai ms. 173 and Boulogne ms. 5; Branner 1977, p. 30). Related to this group of manuscripts are the enigmatic Ingeborg Psalter at Chantilly (which must be Parisian or from north-eastern France), and Morgan Library M. 338, a Psalter, glossed by an author from Tournai, but bound (like the Psalter of Blanche of Castile) in an apparently Parisian Romanesque binding. It is not very likely that the present Bible was made in Paris and brought to Aulne Abbey or elsewhere without completed illumination, as the size of the historiated initials is so atypical for Paris that the scribe(s) of a Paris scriptorium would have had to be in close contact with the illuminator(s) at another distant location. Although the organization of the text, with running headlines, chapternumbers etc. suggests a Parisian influence, the sheer size of the miniatures in relation to the text columns indicates that Paris could not have been the origin of this manuscript; this is further confirmed by the arrangement of the books, the amendments to the text and, most of all, the very professional and almost contemporary commentaries in the margins, which all point strongly to a monastic origin. The artistic development of book illumination in Hainault or in Brabant in the 13th century remains almost unexplored, so that it is very difficult to find stylistic parallels in the region where the manuscript was kept for so long. As the style of the illumination in this precious Bible cannot easily be attached to Bruges, Ghent or Liège, it is possible it might have been made somewhere in the vicinity of the abbey. It could also have been made in one of the neighbouring areas, perhaps in Tournai or in Brabant. These regions, to the west of the diocese of Liège, had been influenced by artistic developments from the west, including Paris, at an earlier date than the Mosan region, which continued to adhere to older traditions for an extended period. As Judith Oliver states: “The division of Liège from the Rhineland becomes an artistic and political fact in the midthirteenth century. The art of the Rhine-Meuse region after this date cannot be seen as a single Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG · Mosboden 1 · 6063 Stalden · Schweiz Office: Spalenberg 55 · 4051 Basel · Fon +41 61 275 7575 · Fax +41 61 275 7576 [email protected] · www.guenther-rarebooks.com DR. JÖRN GÜNTHER · RARE BOOKS AG 8 Manuskripte und seltene Bücher entity. Only then, as the Mosan region became more closely allied to the west, was its art heavily influenced by French style. Romanesque traditions were very long lived, but illuminators in the Liège diocese painting in French High Gothic styles are finally encountered in the 1260s-1270s” (Oliver 1988, p. 141f.). So perhaps our manuscript is a very early witness to this development: the first illuminator, with the comparatively advanced Gothic stylistic vocabulary, could have been trained somewhere that was at least influenced by Paris bible illumination, and could then have cooperated, probably for an extended period, with the second illuminator, who was more deeply rooted in the rather archaic style of the Mosan region. Whether this implies that both artists were itinerant artists, or working in a monastic scriptorium, must remain an open question. However, the extraordinarily refined and unusual expressive style of both painters, as uniquely represented here, surely deserves profound scholarly research. The manuscript also merits a full study of sources and analogies to clarify the question of where it could have been made. The iconography of this Bible demonstrates an important development in biblical illustration: in the 12th century, artists tended to illustrate biblical books with any scene from the text of each book; in the 13th century, in contrast, the illustrations were usually taken from the opening words of each book. The present Bible includes some unusual iconography, such as scenes of Rahab the harlot (Joshua), the troops of Joseph arriving at Bethel [or could this be the battle of Jericho?] (Judges) and Zacharias with the Devil (fol. 242v, perhaps an echo of the Romanesque practice of showing the Devil with Job). Some of the early iconography survived in Flanders longer than in Paris (Beer 1972, pp. 192-203) and other features, such as Isaiah being sawn in two (fol. 176b) were adopted by the Blanche workshop in Paris (Branner 1977, p. 31). The present manuscript preserves the archaic ten-fold Psalter division with pictures for Psalms 51 and 101, in addition to the more usual eight divisions, and this too (though a German and English feature) was used in the Psalter of Blanche of Castile. However, compared to Paris bibles of the same period, this manuscript does differ in various respects. In general, our illuminators tend to stress theological aspects. Further, in addition to the usual author’s portrait, we find narrative depictions accompanying the gospels of St Luke and of St John, the latter of which is enhanced with a charming illustration of the Wedding at Cana, composed of three scenes. The Pauline epistles have been illustrated with scenes from the saint’s life, rather than with a static figure of St Paul preaching or sending letters, as is frequently seen in Paris illumination cycles of the Bible (cf. however, Pagina Sacra, no. 8). Finally, the illuminators conceived the initials as clearly outlined frames for the images, such that they almost cease to appear as letters. This is a magnificently illuminated manuscript, and the finest 13th-century Bible to appear on the market for very many years. We wish to thank Patricia Stirnemann (IRHT, Paris) for her invaluable assistance in assessing this manuscript. LITERATURE Pagina Sacra, Bibles and Biblical Texts 1050-1511, Stalden 2011, no. 10 (Dr Jörn Günther Catalogue no. 10). Robert Branner, Manuscript Painting in Paris during the Reign of Saint Louis, Berkeley 1977, pp. 8793, 192 and 224-27. Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG · Mosboden 1 · 6063 Stalden · Schweiz Office: Spalenberg 55 · 4051 Basel · Fon +41 61 275 7575 · Fax +41 61 275 7576 [email protected] · www.guenther-rarebooks.com DR. JÖRN GÜNTHER · RARE BOOKS AG 9 Manuskripte und seltene Bücher Christopher F. R. de Hamel, Glossed Books of the Bible and the Origins of the Paris Booktrade, Woodbridge 1984, pp. 7-9; 22-24 and his: Eine Geschichte der Bibel, Berlin 2002, pp. 109 f. Patricia Stirnemann, ‘Fils de la vierge. L’initiale à filigranes parisienne: 1140-1314’, in Revue de l’art 90 (1990), pp. 58-73, p. 67. Marcia L. Colish, Peter Lombard, Leiden/New York/Cologne 1994, pp. 15-32, 170-188. Anton Sander, Bibliotheca Belgica Manuscripta, vol. II, Lille 1644, p. 235. Guy Zelis, La bibliothèque de l’ancienne abbaye cistercienne d’Aulne, Méthode d’enquête et répertoire des manuscrits, typewritten thesis, Univ. catholique de Louvain 1969. Émile Van Balberghe and Guy Zelis, ‘Introduction au Medieval Libraries of Belgium. A List of Surviving Manuscripts’, in Scriptorium 26 (1972), pp. 348-357, esp. p. 352. Guy Zelis, ‘Medieval Libraries of Belgium, 2: Aulne’, in Scriptorium 28 (1974), pp. 103-109. Joseph-Marie Canivez, L’Ordre de Cîteaux en Belgique, Forges Lez-Chimay 1926, pp. 84-93. Günther Haseloff, Die Psalterillustration im 13. Jahrhundert. Studien zur Geschichte der Buchmalerei in England, Frankreich und den Niederlanden, Berlin 1938. Ellen. J. Beer, ‘Liller Bibelcodices, Tournai und die Scriptorien der Stadt Arras’, in Aachener Kunstblätter 43 (1972), pp. 190-226. François Avril, ‘A quand remontent les premiers ateliers d’enlumineurs laics à Paris?’, in Les Dossiers de l’Archeologie XVI (1976), pp. 36-44, esp. pp. 38-39. Robert Branner, Manuscript Painting in Paris during the Reign of Saint Louis, Berkeley 1977. Judith H. Oliver, Gothic manuscript illumination in the Diocese of Liège (c. 1250-1330), 2 vols., Leuven 1988. Thérèse Glorieux-De Gand, Manuscrits cisterciens de la Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, Bibliothèque royale Albert Ier, Brussels 1990. Patricia Stirnemann, ‘Fils de la vierge. L’initiale à filigranes parisienne: 1140-1314’, in Revue de l’art 90 (1990), pp. 58-73. 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