The Prophet Ezechiel, historiated initial on a leaf from a Bible, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Bohemia, Germany or Austria, mid-15th century]

A fine, illuminated leaf from a grand Lectern Bible, of about the same date and representing the same aesthetic as the Gutenberg Bible, and of which a number of sister leaves are known.

c.370 x 260mm. Ruled in pale brown ink for 2 columns of 45 lines written in a regular, angular, gothic bookhand, running headers, the text comprising the end of the prologue and the start of Ezechiel, illuminated with a large historiated initial ‘E’ depicting a half-length figure of the prophet (some cockling, a few stains, but generally in very good condition). Mounted and framed.

Provenance:
1) From a volume containing the books of Proverbs to Malachi (doubtless the second of a three-volume Bible: the first volume would contain Genesis to Psalms, and the third Maccabees and the New Testament). The intact volume owned by William B. Gourley (d.1935), of Paterson, NJ: his sale in New York, 4 November 1936, lot 73; bought by:

(2) Otto Ege (d.1952), of Cleveland (S. de Ricci, Census, II, 1937, p.1946 no 62, and S. Gwara, Otto Ege’s Manuscripts, 2013, Handlist no 150). Ege seems to have extracted leaves by 1943.

Sister leaves:
The parent volume was described in 1936 and 1937 as having 163 leaves (with 18 historiated initials, most of which doubtless represent the Major and Minor Prophets), of which a few have been identified in the Art Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design (Joel initial, f.14); Oberlin College, Ohio (Haggai initial, f.156); Berea College, Kentucky; and Randolph College, Lynchburg, Virginia (text leaf with part of Ezekiel 16–18). Another leaf with the Prophet Jeremiah was sold at Christie's, 10 July 2019, lot 452, and one with the Prophet Isaiah was sold at Forum Auctions in 2021.

Illumination:
The illumination is strongly reminiscent of the output of the workshop of the Prague Hexameron, artists who fled Prague for Wroclaw in the wake of the Hussite Wars. Alongside a traditional Bohemian palette of chalky greens and pinks, the style is identifiable by the sharp-featured figure, clad in strongly-contoured drapery. The illuminators that fled Prague alongside members of the St Vitus Chapter, for Zittau and then Wroclaw, developed their own sub-style within the Hexameron group, defined by bulkier figures and further exaggeration of drapery folds.