ENLUMINATION. BIBLE. Ornate initial C. Bifeuillet... Lot 3

[ENLUMINATION]. [BIBLE]. Ornate initial C. Bifeuillet (truncated in its lower part with missing text) from a Bible. End of the Book of Malachi, beginning of the Book of Job. Tempera, gouache on parchment. Italy, Lombardy (?), late 12th century. Framed leaf. Size : 380 x 275 mm Some stains, vertical fold (the parchment was used as a replacement for a register cover). We do not know from which Bible this double leaf was taken, but the style of the ornate initial is reminiscent of Italian Cistercian manuscripts of the late 12th and early 13th centuries. The absence of gold and figurative elements is recognizable. More recent notes on the bifeuillet (date: 1570 die 29 novembris) indicate that this fragment was used to cover a later register. The inscription mentions a "D. Alexandro et fratribus de Blanchis de Vellate dictis de pellibus rubeÿs". There is a Swiss family "Blanchis de Vellate" originating from Varese in Lombardy.