Historiated initial A with angels playing music, Eastern Netherlands (Gelderland or Western Germany), 1st half of the 14th century.

Recto: folio number inscription ‘.lvi.’. This side has rubrics for Barbara and Nicholas (4 and 6 December) followed by the start of the feast of st Lucy (13 December): ‘[Dilexisti justiti]am et odisti iniqui[tatem propterea unx]it te deus deus tu[us]’.

Verso: historiated initial A in red with a blue border with angels playing musical instruments in each compartment of the letter. All on burnished gold ground. Must correspond to a mid-December feast as yet unidentified.

Part of cuttings purchased in batches from William Henry James Weale in 1883, 95 on 9 April 1883, 258 on 17 April 1883, 20 on 20 February, for the total sum of £96.7.2 (now Museum nos 8972-9042).
A duplicate number MS.189 was assigned to this object in error and was subsequently cancelled.

Cuttings from the same manuscript in the V&A collection: Museum nos 8990A, 8990B, 9005A, 9005B.

Cuttings from the same manuscript in other collections: Christie's London, 6 December 1989, lot 1; formerly Kofler-Truniger collection, Lucerne, and later Jörn Günther Antiquariat, Catalogue 6 (2002), no.27; Sotheby's, 3 December 2013, part of lot 17, and subsequently De Brailes, Catalogue One, no.I and Catalogue Two, no.II; McCarthy Collection, BM1606 and 1607 (see Kidd 2016 and Kidd 2019, no. 23).

8990B