LIGHTING. HOURS-PSAUTIER. Initial E historiated:... Lot 9

[LIGHTING]. [HOURS-PSAUTIER]. Initial E historiated: David holding a book (Psalm 54, Exaudi Deus...); Initial I historiated: Woman holding a book in front of a tower (Psalm 99, Jubilate Deo...); Initial M historiated: Man and his dog (Psalm 100, Misericordiam et judicium) Two leaves from the "Rosenabum Psalter-Hours" (Psalter-Hours). Tempera, gouache and gold leaf on parchment; ornate or figurative line-ends (varied bestiary or hybrid creatures) in red and blue ink. England (?) or rather Flanders or Rhineland (?); around 1260. Size of the leaves : 125 x 175 mm ; 130 x 175 mm Leaves trimmed a little short affecting an end-of-line drawing, some flourishes and watermarked decoration in the margin and the lower part of the initial I historiated. Initial M historiated: the face of the man and the dog figure are a little rubbed. Two leaves from the famous Rosenbaum Psalter-Hours, known to have been copied most certainly for a nun with a reference to an "abbess" in a collection of a leaf preserved in a private collection with the mention: "[...] familiam [recte famulam] tuam abbatissimam [recte abbatissam] nostram" (See P. Kidd, https://mssprovenance.blogspot.com/2015/06/a-lavishly-illuminated-13th-century.html). The convent to which the nun who refers to an abbess (Benedictine? Franciscan?) belonged is not identified. In any case, this manuscript has the following particularity: almost all the psalms are illustrated with a historiated initial. The manuscript called "Rosenbaum Psalter-Hours" was dismembered in the 1960s. These Psalter-Hours (a combination of a book of hours and a psalter) were named after a former owner of several leaves, namely Esther Rosenbaum, a Chicago collector. On this manuscript, see P. Kidd, The McCarthy Collection, vol. II, 2019, no. 20. The Sotheby's catalog, July 7, 2015, lot 13 also gives a relatively complete list of known leaves (note, however, that our two leaves are not included). Also see Peter Kidd's blog, "A Lavishly Illuminated 13th-Century Psalter-Hours Made for a Nun (I and II)," for more information on this manuscript and the known leaves. Provenance: 1. Manuscript probably illuminated and copied in England (not certain), offering stylistic comparisons with such manuscripts as the "Grandisson Psalter" and the "Salvin Hours" (London, British Library, Add. MSS. 21926 and 48985; see Nigel Morgan, Early Gothic Manuscripts II: 1250-1285, London, 1988, nos. 165, 158) or the "Windmill Psalter" (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M. 102). It has also been suggested that this manuscript was painted in Flanders, eastern France, or the Rhineland, the English origin not being retained, for example, in the notice devoted by Sotheby's, 7 July 2015, lot 13. Peter Kidd expresses doubts about the English origin: "There is much uncertainty about where the manuscript was made: England, northern France, the Rhineland, or Flanders being common suggestions. An attribution to England is often backed-up by a discussion of the line-fillers. The fact that Psalm 51 is decorated with a major initial certainly suggests English influence, because England, Germany, and Ireland were the main countries in which Psalms 51 and 101 were elaborately illuminated in addition to the more common eight divisions at Pss.1, 26, 38, 52, 68, 80, 97, and 109. Neither the script nor major decoration, however, look English to me" (Blog, Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, March 5, 2015). 2. Several leaves from this manuscript were in the collection of Esther Rosenbaum (deceased 1980), a Chicago collector whose collection was dispersed by Sotheby's, April 25, 1983 (see especially lot 69 with the leaves from the Heures-Psautier). 3. London, Christie's, June 4, 2008, lot 8. Related leaves: Since its dismemberment in the 1960s, several leaves from this manuscript have been traced. The Sotheby's catalog, July 7, 2015, lot 13 gives a relatively complete list of known leaves (note, however, that our two leaves are not included). Note that the leaf containing Psalm 101 and thus immediately following one of the two leaves offered here is held in Cleveland, Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection.