Leaf from a Bible (Prologue to Ecclesiastes), present-day Belgium (Liège), ca. 1300.
A duplicate number MS.721 was assigned to this object in error and was subsequently cancelled.

Leaf, with decorated initial N [for M] in blue and pink, filled with scrolls of red, pink and blue, counterchanged on a ground of darker blue and pink, arranged quarterly. Initial U in blue patterned with white on a panel of pink diaper edged with gold. Inside the inital is scroll work with red, blue and gold leaves, and a nude woman on a dark blue ground.
Prologue and Book of Ecclesiastes
Rubric: Explicit prologus, incipit liber Ecclesiastes I. (1) N [for M] eminime hoc femie (2) Verba Ecclesiastes filii Davis regis
40 lines; 2 cols.

Part of a Bible in three volumes which probably belonged to the house of the Teutonic Knights in Maastricht (Nieuwe Biesen), according to an inscription on a leaf from vol. II (see London, British Library, Add. MS 32058, fol. 9). All leaves now in the V&A collection belong to volume II. The second volume was dismantled by the time the museum acquired a first batch of leaves in 1883 from W.H. James Weale (9036A to 9036Z, 9036Z/A, 9036F/1). Another batch was bought in 1906 (D.544 to D.599-1906). No part of volume I is known to survive (Genesis to II Chronicles) and volume III is now Oxford, Keble College, MS 69.

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). These included 27 leaves and 1 cutting from the Teutonic Knights Bible, vol. II.

Cuttings from the same manuscript in the V&A collection: Museum nos 9036A to 9036Z, 9036Z/A, 9036F/1, D.544 to D.599-1906.

Cuttings from the same manuscript in other collections: London, British Library, Add. MS 32058, ff. 9-22.

Vol. III (containing the Old Testament): Oxford, Keble College, MS 69.

9036C