Original leaf from an English manuscript pocket Bible illuminated at the workshop of William de Brailes - one of the few 13th century English illuminators known by name! (De Brailes maintained an active workshop at Oxford c. 1238-52. He was the illuminator of the Oxford Bible). (185 x 135 mm - 7.4 x 5.4")
Written in Latin gothic script, in brown ink on animal vellum. Rubricated chapter numbers, initials and marginalia in red and blue. 54 lines of text in double columns (10 lines per inch!). !).
For sister leaf see Blackburn Collection, Cleveland Museum of Art, pl. 4.
England: Oxford, c. 1240 A.D.
One 5+line historiated initial of St. Paul holding a sword, and extending into the margin and to the bottom of the page; one four-line illuminated initial in orange, blue and burnished gold with delicate white tracery.
The text is from Philippians 1:15 – Colossians 1:1: “Quidam autem et…” (some also for good will preach Christ…For unto you it is given for Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him……).
This leaf, from a “portable” Bible during the period of the Crusades, would have been used in the abstract study of theology or the preaching of the Gospel around the medieval countryside.
Presented in an archival 14x11'' mat
