Ascension
Historiated Initial V on a leaf from a Gradual
Tempera and burnished gold leaf on vellum
Germany, Regensburg, c. 1290-1300
Leaf: 503 x 340 mm; initial: 122 x 101 mm
64,000,- CHF (VAT not included)
Minor losses of gold leaf, slight creasing and soiling not affecting the initial.
This illuminated leaf originates from a luxurious German Gradual and features the depiction of a green dragon at the feet of apostles who are witnessing the ascension of Christ.
The historiated initial is painted on a ground of burnished gold within two frames of light and darker green. The letter is divided into two parts, the right shaft is in a warm shade of beige- old rose and the left is made up of a magnificent, winged dragon who swallows or spits out the right shaft. The dragon’s green body curls up with details of his spine accentuated in grey or white. The end of his tail is adorned with a red three-foil foliage, while to the right, the shaft of the letter ends in a small three-foil leaves in old-rose-beige. The red feathers on the animal’s wing are mirrored in the red band decoration to the right.
The illumination is characterized by many small details. Within the letter, the Virgin and eight of the apostles sit before bare green rocks and look up towards the angels and the disappearing figure of Christ. His feet have left strong imprints on the mountain top. The men with brown and grey hair (St. Peter is recognisable) have colourful robes. With her halo in red, the Virgin stands out in the centre. The garments of those up front are sharply folded and outlined in various colours. Noses and right eyebrows are formed in a single line, while eyes are indicated by a black dot. All figures have red dabs on cheeks and lips.
The parent two-volume Gradual from which our leaf hails was clearly a luxurious commission and it has been suggested that the books were made for the convent of Dominican nuns at Regensburg, founded in 1237 and dedicated to the Holy Cross – although this is by no means certain. If the new discovery of another companion leaf in a Swiss private collection (Crowned King David, Ad te levavi = fol. ii) is accepted, that leaf refers to its makers: it contains an instruction to the fratres responsible for correctly copying Graduals and Antiphonaries. Therefore, the choir books were made by men, friars who presumably belonged to one of the mendicant orders, either the Franciscans or the Dominicans, who both had important foundations in Regensburg from early on.