‡ Six initials on cuttings, with five humans, including a hunter with a bow and a hare slung over his shoulder, a cat and a finely drawn hunting hound, from two illustrated manuscripts on parchment [France, twelfth century] Six figure initials, each trimmed to edges: (a) fine penwork hound, his fur picked out in lappeting penstrokes, with his torso and front paws through an initial 'O' touched in purple-brown wash, as he turns his head to look at the text behind him, reverse with remains of single column of 8 lines of a good Romanesque hand written with a thin nib, and with a strong ct-ligature, text too slight and obscured to allow identification, mid-twentieth-century "#66" and "ABE" in pencil, initial 42 mm. diameter, whole cutting 70 by 65mm., France, first half of twelfth century; (b) five cuttings from the same manuscript: (i) a hunter cut from an unknown initial, in red robes, leading two dogs by chains and with his bow slung over his shoulder from which hangs a dead hare suspended by its feet, 110 by 75mm., (ii) a 'R' formed by a priest in a red tunic and green and blue robes preaching or blessing two kneeling supplicants (one wearing a pale green robe), the figures linked by a single blue and red acanthus leaf frond, 75 by 77mm., (iii) a 'C' in blue and red enclosing a male saint's bust, he wearing blue robes edged with green with rectangular designs picked out on it, and a pale green halo, this with what is probably a mid-twentieth-century "ABE" on reverse in pencil, 50 by 50mm., (iv) an 'I' formed from a standing saint in green and blue robes, 90 by 125mm., (v) an initial 'I', formed from a stylised lion, rearing up and with foliage emerging from its roaring mouth, on blue, green and grey wash grounds, this with mid-twentieth-century "#66" and "ABE" in pencil on reverse, 95 by 22mm., all apart from hunter with remnants of text on reverse, in good pre-gothic bookhand with capitals stroked with red penwork, that on item (ii) enough to permit identification as from Augustine's Sermo 142 ("... [da]ndo redim[ere. Bonum est ieiunare] fratres; sed me[lius est eleemosy]nam dare. Si quis [sic for 'aliquis'] [utrumque] potest ['facere' inserted here'] [duo sunt bona:] si vero non [potest, melius e]st eleemosynam [dare. Si p]ossibili[tas n]on [fuerit ieiunandi, eleemosyna sufficit sibi sine ieiunio; ieiunium sine elee]mosy[na] ..."), France, mid-twelfth century; all in item (a) here somewhat scuffed, with small stains in places and paper adhering to reverse from previous mounting, overall fair and presentable condition; once framed together and with card mount from that framing with darkened sections showing that they were together in this form for some decades From the collection of Vladimir Gregorievitch Simkovitch (1874-1959), Russian émigré to Germany then America, professor of Economic History at Columbia University, New York. The dog jumping through the initial 'O' here as if it were a hoop is finely executed and suggests Parisian work in its understanding of shading and its use of penwork to create the texture of fur. However, while the other cuttings are more rustic in quality, they also include a rare scene from everyday life: a hunter leading dogs and carrying his bow and a dead hare. The palette, notably the use of vibrant reds alongside dark muted greens finds parallels throughout central and south-western France (see for example W. Cahn, Romanesque Manuscripts, 1996, no. 31 and 26, from south-western France and Tours, respectively). The simplistic facial modelling and the large pupilled eyes are in line with other manuscripts from the same regions, such as the mid-twelfth-century Cartulary of Vierzon (BnF. Lat. 9865: ibid., no. 6). Any examples of drawings of humans of this great antiquity are of significant rarity on the market, while those performing secular tasks such as hunting are almost absent from it.‡: 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.
