A charming initial with a foliate interlace woven around an acanthus blossom, introducing the Life of St. Ambrose of Milan.
 
210 x 134 mm. Partial leaf, ruled by knife or stylus for one column (of originally two) of 29 remaining lines, writtenin black ink in a round well-spaced Carolingian minuscule, rubrics in red uncials, first few words following the initial in rustic capitals, ONE LARGE SEVEN-LINE ILLUMINATED INITIAL with yellow staves with compartments patterned blue and red, against a quartered ground of brown and blue outlined in red and decorated with yellow tracery within, the infill with foliate and interlace against a divided ground of blue, red and green (parchment slightly soiled and stained, minor creasing at top left of initial, some flakes in the ink and initial, rubrics in red rubbed and smudged in two places, two minor wormholes, cropped unevenly on the margin, else in good condition).
 
This partial leaf with an initial ‘O’ comes from a twelfth-century large Saints’ Lives or Passional, organized on the basis of the liturgical calendar, as evidenced by the rubrics with entries for 6 and 7 December. It contains the beginning of the Vita sancti Ambrosii by Paulinus of Milan and the end of the Vita sancti Nicolai by John the Deacon, reading on the recto from the end of Life of Saint Nicholas, “[cael]esti palma potitus, misericorditer sub[venire afflictis]…,” to the rubrics for Vita sancti Ambrosii on the verso, followed by the text itself, “Ortari[u]s vener[a]bilis patris augustinae ut sicut beati viri anathasius…”

The Vita sancti Ambrosii is here introduced with a large illuminated initial ‘O,’ for “Ortari[u]s,” conceived in the late Geometrical style and similar to lots 3 and 4 of the present sale. It is set on a squared ground in brown and blue and compartmented with yellow staves, filled-in with blue and red lozenges. On a blue ground, the initial encloses foliate interlace which is woven around a green and red acanthus blossom. The style is typical of the Romanesque illuminations of Tuscan workshops active in the third quarter of the twelfth century.

Provenance
(1) Christie’s, London, 19 November 2003, lot 3.

(2) Robert McCarthy, London, MS BM 1477.

LITERATURE
The present leaf has been described and published in: Gaudenz Freuler and Georgi Parpulov, The McCarthy Collection, Vol. I, Italian and Byzantine Miniatures, London, 2018, no. 14, p. 43.

We are grateful to Gaudenz Freuler for permission to quote from his catalogue for this entry. Freeman’s | Hindman thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Elliott Adam for their assistance in preparing this sale.