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Detailed record for Yates Thompson 20
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| Author |
Petrus Comestor , translated by Guiart des Moulins |
| Title |
Bible Historiale, 1st part (Genesis-Maccabees) |
| Origin |
France, Central (Paris) |
| Date |
c. 1320-1340 |
| Language |
French |
| Script |
Gothic |
| Artists |
There are two main artists for this Bible Historiale. The first is identified alternatively as the Fauvel Master or the Sub-Fauvel Master (see Stones 1998). For a comparison, for Fauvel see Oxford, Bodleian Library, Douce 211-212, and for Sub-Fauvel The Hague, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 71 A 23. For the second artist, the Perceval Master, see Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 160. The Perceval and Fauvel Masters collaborated on the illumination of the Bible Historiale of Troyes, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 59. Both artists worked in Paris during c. 1320-1340. |
| Decoration |
1 half-page miniature, accompanied by a large decorated initial with three-sided foliate borders, in red, blue and gold (f. 2). 71 small miniatures, accompanied by large decorated initials with partial foliate borders, in red, blue and gold (ff. 2v, 3, 4, 4v, 5, 6v, 7v, 8, 9v, 10, 10v, 12v, 27, 30, 35v, 46, 73, 82, 100v, 121, 128v ,130v, 131, 146, 159, 178v, 198, 199, 203v, 215, 222v, 224, 228, 231v, 243, 246, 248, 254v, 271, 291, 311v, 313v, 315v, 316v, 334, 336, 337, 337v, 338, 341v, 342, 343, 346, 347, 349v, 350v, 351v, 352v, 353, 356v, 357v, 371v, 373, 381 (x2), 385v, 391v, 394, 397v, 400v, 403v). 2 diagrams in red ink (ff. 65, 83). Small initials in gold on red and blue grounds. Artists's instructions at the bottom of the illuminated leaves, describing quite precisely the content of most miniatures (e.g. f. 159), many of these erased. |
| Dimensions in mm |
400 x 300 (260 x 200) in two columns |
| Official foliation |
ff. 413 (5 modern parchment flyleaves at the beginning, and 3 at the end) |
| Collation |
i8-1 (6th leaf excised after f. 5; ff. 1-7), ii8 (ff. 8-15), iii8-1 (3rd leaf excised after f. 17; ff. 16-22), iv-xii8 (ff. 23-94), xiii8-1 (1st leaf excised after f. 94; ff. 95-101), xiv8 (ff. 102-109), xv8-1 (6th leaf excised after f. 114; ff. 110-116), xvi-xxvii8 (ff. 117-212), xxviii8-1 (8th leaf excised after f. 219; ff. 213-219), xxix-xliv8 (ff. 220-347), xlv8-3 (3 leaves excised; ff. 348-352), xlvi-xlviii8 (ff. 353-376), xlix4 (ff. 377-380), l8 (ff. 381-388), li4 (ff. 389-392), lii8-1 (1 leaf excised; ff. 393-399), liii8 (ff. 400-407), liv6 (ff. 408-413). |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. Modern parchment; gilt edges. |
| Provenance |
A countess of Valois, 14th century: inscribed 'ceste bible est Madame la Contesse de Vallois' (f. 243). Possible identifications include Jeanne de Bourgogne, wife of Philippe VI, count of Valois from 1325, then king of France 1328-1350; Blanche of France, married to Philippe d'Orléans, count of Valois from c. 1349; and Valentina Visconti, wife of Louis of France, Duke of Orléans and count of Valois from 1382. Louis acquired many books from Blanche (see Cockerell and Thompson 1907 p. 11, who, following Delisle, prefer Blanche as owner of this manuscript).
Two inscriptions, last quarter of the 18th century, suggest that this Bible might have been formerly bound in two volumes. The second volume would have begun on f. 243: inscribed 'le surplus de ces paraboles est dans les trois premieres lignes du volume suivant au texte de l'Eclesiaste' (f. 242v); the second inscription suggests that the last folio of the Bible (f. 413) marked the beginning of the second volume as a flyleaf (there is an off-set on the verso of f. 413 which corresponds to the miniature and borders of f. 243). The inscription of a countess of Valois (f. 243) could mean that when it was written, the Bible was already in 2 volumes, and that a countess of Valois was the owner of the second volume.
Jean-Baptiste Joseph Barrois (b. 1784, d. 1855), French deputy and book collector (on whom see Hugh Collingham, 'Joseph Barrois: Portrait of a Bibliophile XXVI', Book Collector 33 (1984), 431-48).
Bertram Ashburnham (b. 1797, d. 1878), 4th earl of Ashburnham: acquired with the other Barrois manuscripts in 1849.
Bertram Ashburnham, 5th earl of Ashburnham: the Ashburnham-Barrois sale, 10 June 1901, lot 144, bought by Baer.
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: with his book-plate inscribed 'nee [i.e. £500] / [bought from] Harris / Nov 27 / 1901' (inside upper cover).
Bequeathed to the British Museum in 1941 by Mrs Henry Yates Thompson. |
| Notes |
Instructions to the illuminators in the lower margins. |
| Select bibliography |
Samuel Berger, La bible française au moyen âge: étude sur les plus anciennes versions de la bible écrites en prose de langue d'oïl (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1884), no. 110 p. 414.
A Descriptive Catalogue of Twenty Illuminated Manuscripts, Nos. LXXV to XCIV (Replacing Twenty Discarded from the Original Hundred) in the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: University Press, 1907), no. LXXV pp. 9-15.
Alison Stones, 'The Stylistic Context of the Roman de Fauvel with a note on Fauvain', in Fauvel Studies: Allegory, Chronicle, Music, and Image in Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. français 146, ed. by Margaret Bent and Andrew Wathey (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), pp. 529-67 (pp. 531 n. 6, 532, 550).
Akiko Komada, Les illustrations de la Bible Historiale: les manuscrits réalisés dans le Nord, 4 vols (Paris: Thèse de doctorat, Université Paris IV, 2000), III, no. 44.
Marie-Therese Gousset, 'Troyes, médiathèque de l'agglomération, ms. 59', Les manuscrits de Clairvaux de saint Bernard à nos jours. La vie en Champagne, 46 (2006), pp. 72-74. |
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f. 1
Creation and fall |
f. 1
Detail: Creation and fall |
f. 1
Detail: Creation |
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f. 1
Detail: Creation |
f. 1
Detail: Fall |
f. 1
Detail: Fall |
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f. 1
Detail: |
f. 73
Nadab and Abihu |
f. 73
Detail: Nadab and Abihu |
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f. 215
Judith and Holofernes |
f. 215
Detail: Judith and Holofernes |
f. 338
Lions |
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f. 382
Text page |
f. 385v
David kneels before God |
f. 385v
Detail: David kneels before God |
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f. 385v
Detail: Initial |
f. 385v
Detail: Inscription |
f. 391v
Detail: |
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