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Add MS 15248
- Record Id:
- 032-002086951
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002086951
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000052.0x00021c
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100171734077.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 15248
- Title:
-
Bible moralisée
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
Bible moralisée, a picture Bible containing excerpts from the Old and New Testaments, with a moralising commentary,
ff. 1r-3v: Preface, incipit, 'Comment la sainte scripture se puet exposer en quatre manieres';
ff. 3v-15v: Preface, incipit 'Cy commence la declaration de plusieurs mots co[n]tenus en la bible';
f. 16r: A list of books of the Bible that are included;
ff. 17r-283r: Genesis to the Apocalypse, with brief biblical passages in Latin followed by commentary in French, beginning 'Cy commence le premier livre de la Bible moralisée translatée de latin en francois'; there are additions to the texts of Genesis and Psalms in the margins, with substantial marginal notes on 68 folios.
This is one of a subgroup of manuscripts containing the Bible Moralisée text but without the multiple images and layout characteristic of the fully-illustrated versions. There are three other manuscripts that are closely related textually to this manuscript: Paris, BnF MS fr. 897, Ghent, Universiteitsbibliotheek MS 141 and The Hague, Koninklijke Bibliotheek MS 76 E 7. They are all believed to be descended from the Bible of King John the Good, Paris, BnF MS fr. 167 (see Lowden, 'Fifteenth Century' (2005), p. 74).
Decoration
1 half page miniature in 8 compartments with a full decorated border including a peacock and a framed initial 'I'(n) in colours with gold at the beginning of the Bible text. 18 column-width miniatures in grisaille on coloured grounds with gold frames, each with a framed initial with foliate decoration in colours with gold. One large framed initial in gold on a blue and rose ground (f. 1r), Numerous framed initials in gold on blue and rose grounds with penwork decoration. Line-fillers in blue, rose and gold with penwork decoration. Rubrics in red. Cadels and initials highlighted in yellow.
The subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 17r: An eight part miniature with the six days of Creation, the day of rest and the Fall;
f. 24v: Book of Genesis, Abraham is about to sacrifice Isaac, but is prevented by an angel;
f. 33r: Book of Exodus, the Hebrew slaves are beaten with rods as they work as builders for the Pharoah, who watches from his throne, holding a sceptre;
f. 41r: Book of Leviticus, People bring sacrifices, including a lamb and a bird to the altar;
f. 44r: Book of Numbers, God appears to a kneeling Moses in the wilderness;
f. 51r: Book of Deuteronomy, Moses speaking to the Israelites in the wilderness;
f. 54v: Book of Joshua, Joshua in armour receiving a lance from God
f. 76r: Book of 2 Kings, David is told of Saul's death and has the messenger put to death;
f. 82r: Book of 3 Kings (1 Chronicles), David is crowned bearded courtiers;
f. 92r: Books of Esra and Nehemiah, Cyrus ordering the rebuilding of the Temple of Jerusalem;
f. 93v: Book of Tobit, Tobit is taken captive by King Salmanazar;
f. 108v: Book of Psalms, David seated on a throne playing the harp, with a woman beside him perhaps Bathsheba;
f. 129v: Book of Proverbs, Solomon kneeling before an altar with a calf on it, a woman beside him, perhaps the Queen of Sheba;
f. 137r: Book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon writing the Book of Ecclesiastes;
f. 138v: Book of Solomon, Mary and the infant Jesus enthroned;
f. 148r: Book of Ecclesiasticus, the Judgement of Solomon;
f. 163r: Book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah standing at the gates of a city with an angel holding a scroll above;
f. 174r: Book of Lamentations, Jeremiah lamenting outside the gates of Jerusalem;
f. 184r: Book of Ezechiel, the vision of Ezechiel with a sun surrounded by the four Evangelists' symbols, each holding a scroll bearing the name of the Evangelist.
The miniatures are attributed to Willem Vrelant by Lowden, 'Fifteenth Century' (2005), p. 123. Fourteen folios are lacking, with the miniatures at the beginning of Judges, I Kings, IV Kings, Judith, Esther, Job, Wisdom, Isaiah, 'L'accomplissement de Jeremiah', Maccabees, Gospels, Acts, Epistles and Apocalypse. Miniatures are numbered in the adjoining margins, from Isaac (erased, f. 24v) to Ezechiel, no. xxviii (f. 184r) .
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-002086951", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add MS 15248: Bible moralisée" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002086951
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-002086951
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
-
Parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- https://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100171734077.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- French
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1450
- End Date:
- 1459
- Date Range:
- c. 1455
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 295 x 210 mm (text space: 200 x 135 mm).
Foliation: ff. i +283 (+3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and 3 at the end.
Layout: Written in two columns of 35 lines each.
Script: Gothic cursive
Collation: Quires of 12 folios.
Binding: Post-1600. By C. Kalthoeber of London; dark blue leather with gold tooling and pink endpapers with gold decoration.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Netherlands, S. (Bruges).
Provenance:
Philip the Good (b. 1396, d. 1467), Duke of Burgundy, perhaps intended for his library but was adapted for use as a workshop model and removed from the ducal library before 1467 (see Lowden, 'Fifteenth Century' (2005), p. 135)
Augustus Frederick (b. 1801, d. 1843), Duke of Sussex: his armorial bookplate pasted on the inside upper cover (f. I) and in his sale, 31 July, 1844, lot 97; bought by the British Museum.
- Information About Copies:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.
- Publications:
-
The British Museum Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts, 1841-1845 (London: British Museum, ?1850), 1844, p. 119.
Walter De Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Ilustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster and Sons, 1879), p. 17.
A. de Laborde, La Bible moralisée illustrée conservée à Oxford, Paris et Londres: Reproduction intégrale du manuscrit du XIIIe siècle accompagnée de planches tirées de Bibles similaires et d’une notice, 5 vols. (Paris, 1911-27), V, pp. 123-28, pls 788, 789.
Jonathan J. G. Alexander, Medieval Illuminators and their Methods of Work (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), p. 165 n. 41.
John Lowden, The Making of the 'Bibles Moralisées', 2 vols (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000), II: The Book of Ruth, pp. 258-59, 262.
John Lowden, 'The Bible Moralisée in the fifteenth century and the challenge of the Bible Historiale', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 68 (2005), 73-136 (pp. 74, 120-24).
Christopher Hughes, 'Typology and the Moralised Bible', in The Mind's Eye: Art and Theological Argument in the Middle Ages, ed. by Jeffrey F. Hamburger and Anne-Marie Bouché, (Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c2006), pp. 133-50 (p. 149, n. 2).
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)