‡ Finely painted white vine initial 'R', from an 'Atlantic' Bible, in Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment [Italy (Tuscany), third quarter of twelfth century]

Large initial 'R', trimmed to edges (but almost certainly opening one of the argumenta of Paul's epistle to the Romans, perhaps Romani qui ex Iudaeis ... or Romani sunt in partibus Italiae ...), in sweeping red penwork enclosing bands of tessellated and organic patterns in red and blue ink, each compartment with a sprig of elegant white vine foliage terminating in flower heads cross-hatched with red ink strokes, the lower spray emerging from a trefoil acanthus-head in blue, the whole on bright blue grounds leaving two small dots of blank parchment at head and midpoint of righthand side, the reverse with remains of a single column with 10 lines in a rounded Italian pre-gothic bookhand (this with the text of the capitula to the Pauline Epistles), with red rubrics, some cracks in paint across upper inner corner from old fold, but these minor, and overall in fresh and bright condition, 85 by 62mm.; still affixed by one corner to its card mount, that with mid-twentieth-century pencil inscription Süd Italienisch XI' on front and Italian 11th Cent on back with other notes

From the collection of Dr Otto Oren Fischer (1881-1961) of Detroit. For similar initials see G. Frauler, The McCarthy Collection, Volume 1: Italian and Byzantine Miniatures, 2018, nos. 13-16).

‡: A double dagger (‡) indicates that the lot is being sold whilst subject to temporary importation and that VAT is due at the reduced rate (5%) if the lot remains in the UK.