Beschreibung:

THE ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM: a miniature on a fragment of a noted Choir Breviary, in Latin, illustrated manuscript on vellum[Spain, 12th century (late)]
a fragment, c. 365 × 220mm, part of the outer column of a book written in two columns, preserving the lower 28 lines, blind-ruled, the column-width c. 117mm, written in a large elegant Romanesque script, with rubrics, with 10 lines of text in smaller script below adiastematic musical neumes, the text comprising the second and third lections (plus the last line of the second lection, and the rubric for the fourth) for Wednesday or Thursday in Holy Week, Jeremiah 11:5–17), the start of the second lection decorated with a large initial ‘E’(t dixit dominus) in green, filled with ornament in red and purple, illustrated with a VERY LARGE COLOURED DRAWING, c. 275 × 40mm, under a tall narrow early Gothic arch or gateway with towers above, presumably representing the gates of Jerusalem, Christ holding the reins of a donkey in one and and blessing with the other, the heads of four beardless apostles(?) behind him, four more young men at the lower right laying a garment and a palm-branch in his path, drawn in brown ink infilled with yellow wash and a background of dark green and blue, the reverse with part of a decorated initial with a fine descender in red, green, and brown; recovered from use as a wrapper, with consequent damage and imperfections: worn, creased, and somewhat dirtied overall, the uppermost part damaged by water-staining; despite this the majority of the drawing and its adjacent text is in good condition and is bounded on two sides by wide margins; enclosed in a blue cloth-covered folder with gilt leather title-piece.
PROVENANCE1.   Inscribed in the 17th(?) century with the name ‘Bart(olo)me Bermejo’, doubtless the author or owner of the book around which this fragment was wrapped; and with various 17th-century notes in Spanish, including several calculations next to the word ‘vino’.2.   Galerie Charles Ratton & Guy Ladrière, Paris: exhibited March–April 1991.3.   Sold in our rooms, 22 June 2004, lot 2 (col. ill.); bought by:4.   The Boehlen Collection, MS 1104.
ILLUSTRATIONThe drawing here is unusual and interesting for several reasons. First, it does not relate to the adjacent text, in which God says he will punish the people of Judah and Jerusalem for breaking their covenant with him (‘They have followed other gods … I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape …’); instead, the illustration relates to the liturgical season of Holy Week, when this biblical passage was read. Second, the drawing is a free-standing miniature, not a historiated initial; it has been inserted into the vertical space between the columns of text. Third, this tall, narrow, format has led to an unusual composition: the disciples, Jesus, the donkey, and the people laying palm-leaves and garments in his path, are all represented in a vertical arrangement, and they are framed by elaborate architectural elements, as if seen through an arch under a tower.
The donkey has been pricked, perhaps for pouncing. This is a technique most often associated with mural painting; it was used to transfer a full-scale preparatory drawing, or cartoon, to a wall: the outlines of the design on paper would be pricked, then held against the wall while powdered charcoal would be dusted through the holes to create a dotted outline on the wall. This served two purposes: it allowed the artist to work out his design on a more convenient and comfortable surface than a vertical wall or even a curving vault, and it also allowed an ornamental design such as foliage or heraldic emblems to be repeated indefinitely, at exactly the same size. Among the earliest studies were by H. Lehmann-Haupt (1966), quickly followed by Dorothy Miner (1967). A more recent discussion is by J.J.G. Alexander (1992): ‘A number of the best known examples of pricked miniatures occur in Bestiaries, or are of animals in other contexts …’.
High quality Spanish Romanesque drawings appear for sale at auction very rarely.
REFERENCESH. Lehmann-Haupt, Gutenberg and the Master of the Playing Cards (New Haven, 1966), pp. 67–71.
D. Miner, ‘More About Medieval Pouncing’, in Homage to a Bookman: Essays on Manuscripts, Books and Printing Written for Hans P. Kraus (Berlin, 1967), pp. 87–108.
Galerie Charles Ratton-Guy Ladrière, Le Monde médiéval: 12 mars – 12 avril 1991 (Paris, 1991), pp. 18–19 (‘Nord-Est (?) de la France, circa 1180’).
J.J.G. Alexander, Medieval Illuminators and Their Methods of Work (New Haven, 1992), pp. 50–51.