Parisian Illuminator (Vie de Saint Denis workshop?)

King Solomon Instructing a Knight

Written in Latin, an illuminated leaf from the Villeneuve-lès-Avignon Bible, containing the prologue and the opening of the Book of Wisdom (Sapientia Salomonis), with text from chapters 1 to 3: Diligite iustitiam qui iudicatis terram.

Overall dimensions: 211 × 154 mm

Historiated initial “D”: 26 × 26 mm

France, Paris, circa 1250–1275

Tempera, ink, and gold on parchment

SOLD

This finely illuminated leaf contains the opening of the Book of Wisdom (Sapientia Salomonis), with text from chapters 1 to 3. A large historiated initial ‘D’ introduces the opening verse, Diligite iustitiam qui iudicatis terram (“Love justice, you who judge the earth”). Within the initial, King Solomon is depicted enthroned, raising two fingers in a traditional gesture of instruction. Opposite him stands a knight in full mail, holding a sword and shield, representing worldly authority. This compelling iconography visualizes the theme of the book’s opening: a call to rulers and judges to uphold divine justice. The pairing of wisdom and power would have resonated deeply with a medieval audience, especially in the scholastic and monastic contexts where such Bibles were used.

Written in two columns of 55 lines in a minute Gothic script, the text features red-stroked capitals, red rubrics, and faint marginal instructions to the rubricator. A large, finely decorated initial ‘L’ for Liber, placed above the historiated initial, introduces the prologue to the text. Remarkably, in addition to the already diminutive formal script, the leaf contains even tinier annotations scattered in the margins and delicately nestled between the lines testifying to the manuscript’s dense use and the owners meticulous engagement with the sacred text.

The leaf comes from a Bible produced in Paris around 1250–1275, later owned by the Carthusian abbey of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, founded in 1356 by Pope Innocent VI. The manuscript is marked with punctus flexus punctuation, a system used primarily by Carthusians (Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, I, 1969, p. xii n.2) and bore a Carthusian ownership inscription: Ista biblia est domus cartusiensis in villa nova prope avinionem (Maggs Bros., European Miniatures and Illumination, Bulletin 2, London, 1962, no. 13). In 1812, the Bible was transferred to the Hôtel de Ville in Villeneuve, and in 1853 it was sold to the Montpellier bookseller Félix Seguin (Catalogue, 1854, no. 3). The manuscript remained intact until around 1961, when it was dismembered in London, likely by Louis Bondy (1910–1993). Leaves from the Bible are now held in several institutional collections, including the Bodleian Library, Oxford (MS. Lat. bib. e.6), the Senate House Library, University of London (MSS 546, 576), and the University of South Carolina (Early MS 122, Irvin Department of Rare Books & Special Collections). This particular leaf likely entered a private collection in Minnesota during the initial dispersal in the mid-1960s.

PROVENANCE

1. Produced in Paris, c. 1250–1275, likely by a Carthusian or Cistercian scribe, as indicated by the use of punctus flexus punctuation (Ker, 1969, p. xii n.2).

2. Possibly written for the Chartreuse de Vauvert, Paris, founded 1257.

3. Owned by the Carthusian Charterhouse of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon by the 15th century; the parent manuscript bore the inscription Ista biblia est domus cartusiensis in villa nova prope avinionem (Maggs Bros., 1962, no. 13).

4. Transferred in 1812 to the Hôtel de Ville, Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, after the suppression of the monastery during the French Revolution.

5. Sold in 1853 to Montpellier bookseller Félix Seguin (Catalogue, 1854, no. 3).

6. Remained intact until ca. 1960–1961, when the manuscript was dismembered in London, probably by Louis Bondy or The Folio Society (de Hamel, 2000, p. 51). Leaves dispersed through London dealers in 1961 and thereafter.

7. This leaf likely acquired in London in the mid-1960s and held in a private collection in Minnesota until recently.

SISTER LEAVES

1. Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS. Lat. bib. e. 6 – 18

2. Senate House Library, University of London, MS 546 and MS 576

3. University of South Carolina, Irvin Department of Rare Books & Special Collections, Early MS 122

LITERATURE

The Folio Society, Catalogue 3: Collectors’ Corner (Spring 1961), no. 108 (a)–(c).

Maggs Bros., European Miniatures and Illumination: Bulletin 2 (London, November 1962), no. 13 (ill.).

J. Viellard, ‘Manuscrits de la Chartreuse de Villeneuve-lès-Avignon conservés à la Bibliothèque Vaticane’, in Mélanges Eugene Tisserant, 7, Studi e testi, 237 (Vatican, 1964), pp. 441–50.

N.R. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, I: London (Oxford, 1969).

F. de Forbin, ‘Les manuscrits de la chartreuse Villeneuve-lès-Avignon’, in Les Chartreux et l’art, XIVe–XVIIIe siècle, ed. A. Girard and D. Le Blévec (Paris, 1988), pp. 39–63.

M.M. Manion, V.F. Vines, and C. de Hamel, Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in New Zealand collections (Melbourne, 1989), cat. no. 68.

C. de Hamel, ‘Selling Manuscript Fragments in the 1960s’, in Interpreting and Collecting Fragments of Medieval Books, ed. by L.L Brownrigg and M.M. Smith (Los Altos Hills and London, 2000), pp. 47–55 at 51–52.