‡ The Ascension, within a large initial, from an illuminated manuscript choirbook on parchment [northern Italy (probably Veneto), mid-fourteenth century]

Large cutting trimmed to edges, with an initial 'N' (probably opening Narrabo nomen tuum fratibus meis ..., Psalm 21:23 for the vigil of the Ascension, with the same text mirrored in the inscription in white penwork on the blue grounds of the scene) in off-white enclosed within red and green acanthus leaves, enclosing Christ enthroned before followers, all with burnished gold haloes, all on burnished gold grounds, some losses to edges in places and a few small discoloured holes in places, cracking, scuffing and chipping to gold, laid down on card (small area lifted to reveal text on reverse), overall fair and presentable, 178 by 160mm.

The heavy browed, almost scowling, faces of some saints here, with white brushstrokes used to highlight the ridges of their faces and add depth, as well as the remains of a thin bar-like acanthus shoot in the upper lefthand corner that bends to an acute angle as it enters the margin, point towards Venetian work (compare the choirbook leaf of c. 1340-45 in G. Freuler, The McCarthy Collection, 1: Italian and Byzantine Miniatures, 2018, no. 44; and a cutting from a Gradual produced in the third quarter of the fourteenth century: C. de Hamel, Gilding the Lilly, 2010, no. 49). The skilfully executed tousled hair of the saint in the immediate foreground with his back to the viewer, adds charm.

‡: 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.