Cistercian neumes
A leaf from a noted Breviary, in Latin, manuscript on vellum [France, mid-12th century]
A substantial portion of a leaf from a sumptuous, large-format noted Breviary with charming penwork initials.

c.330 x 300mm, 2 columns of 36 visible lines written in dark brown ink in a Romanesque bookhand in two sizes, French (Cistercian) neumes on a 4-line staff, 4 large ornamental penwork foliate in red, green, blue, and yellow, initials alternately red or blue, rubrics in red (cropped at top with loss of text, some marginal staining but generally in excellent condition). Bound in grey buckram at the Quaritch bindery.

Provenance:
(1) Bernard Rosenthal, his I/4.

(2) Bernard Quaritch, Bookhands V, cat.1147 (1991), no 46, acquired in 1991 by:

(3) Schøyen Collection, MS 721.

Text:
The text is from the Feast of Sts Peter and Paul (29 June), beginning: '[omnia Ecclesiae membra provexit, ut eos in] corpore cui caput Christus est', followed by the responsory 'O claviger regni celorum', the canticle, gospel reading, etc. and ending 'Gloria patri et [filio]'.

Script and music:
The script is large and well spaced, and typical of French manuscripts of the middle of the 12th century. The charming decorated initials are reminiscent of those found in the mid-12th-century Montmajour Gospels (Christie's, 25 May 2016, lot 2). The neumes are written on ruled staves with a red F-line and occasional green line, in a style widely adopted by the Cistercian order.