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Manuscript Cutting

early 16th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

In the 19th century the South Kensington Museum gathered examples of illumination for students to copy. This was a new kind of collection. It was unlike the encyclopedic historic collections of the British Museum or the Bodleian Library in Oxford. From the beginning, the Museum tended to buy ready-made collections. This example is from a portfolio of cuttings from an Italian choirbook. The Museum bought it from J. & W. Boone in 1866 for £15. The ornament is made up of festooned vases and acanthus leaves. Near the top is a cherub clinging to a vase.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Water-based pigments, gilding and ink on parchment
Brief description
Cut-out fragment of marginal ornament, made up of festooned vases, acanthus leaf with a cherub clinging to a vase near the top, attributed to Domenico Morone, Verona, early 16th century. A duplicate number MS.1038 was assigned to this object in error and was subsequently cancelled.
Physical description
Specimen of a manuscript
Dimensions
  • Height: 470mm
  • Width: 85mm
Gallery label
Fragmented Illuminations: Medieval and Renaissance Manuscript Cuttings at the V&A, 08/09/2021 - 26/06/2022, rooms 88A-90



Cut-out border ornaments, from a Franciscan choirbook
Attributed to Domenico Morone (about 1442 – after 1518)
Verona, Italy, about 1500
Ink, gold, watercolour and bodycolour on parchment

Museum nos. 4918:1-9
Object history
Probably part of a larger group that belonged to a Franciscan convent's antiphonary.
Part of a group of 11 cuttings which came to the museum in 1866 from T. & W. Boone, London.

Cuttings from the same manuscript in the V&A collection: Museum nos 4916, 4917, 4918:1, 4919, 4920, 4921:1, 4922, 4923, 4924, 4926, 4927.

Cuttings from the same manuscript in other collections: New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975.1.2483; Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Berliner Kupferstichkabinett, inv. 629; Sotheby's, London, 19 June 1990, lot 35.
Historical context
Data taken from notes compiled by Rowan Watson. The full text of the entry is as follows:

'335.3
4918.1 (MS 1038)
CHOIR BOOK?
Cut-out fragment of marginal ornament, made up of festooned vases, acanthus leaf, with a cherub clinging to vase near the top

Italy. c.1490
470 x 85 mm.

From an album containing 4916-4928 boght for £15 from J. & W. Boone, 1866
Pub: 1908 cat, 91; 1923 cat, 84'
Subjects depicted
Summary
In the 19th century the South Kensington Museum gathered examples of illumination for students to copy. This was a new kind of collection. It was unlike the encyclopedic historic collections of the British Museum or the Bodleian Library in Oxford. From the beginning, the Museum tended to buy ready-made collections. This example is from a portfolio of cuttings from an Italian choirbook. The Museum bought it from J. & W. Boone in 1866 for £15. The ornament is made up of festooned vases and acanthus leaves. Near the top is a cherub clinging to a vase.
Associated objects
Bibliographic references
  • Watson, Rowan. Educators, Collectors, Fragments and the "Illuminated" Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in the Nineteenth Century. In: Linda L. Brownrigg and Margaret M. Smith, eds. Interpreting and Collecting Fragments of Medieval Books. Los Altos Hills: Anderson Lovelace; London: Red Gull Press, 2000. pp. 21-46, ill. ISBN 0962637262 (hbk); 0962637270 (pbk). p. 26, fig. 2
  • Catalogue of illuminated manuscripts : Part II, Miniatures, leaves, and cuttings, by S.C. Cockerell and E.F. Strange (London: HMSO, 1908, 1st edition). p. 90.
  • Catalogue of Miniatures, Leaves, and Cuttings from Illuminated Manuscripts. Victoria and Albert Museum. Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design, by S.C. Cockerell and C. Harcourt Smith (London: HMSO, 1923, 2nd edition). p. 83
  • Watson, Rowan. Vandals and Enthusiasts: Views of Illumination in the Nineteenth Century, London : Victoria and Albert Museum, 1995 no.79
  • Bollati, M. (ed).Dizionario biografico dei miniatori italiani secoli IX-XVI. Preface by Miklós Boskovits. Milan, 2004. pp. 807-810 (Hans-Joachim Eberhardt).
  • Marinelli, Sergio and Marini, Paola, eds., Mantegna e le arti a Verona, 1450-1500, Venezia : Marsilio, 2006 no. 78.
Collection
Accession number
4918:1

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Record createdFebruary 25, 2004
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