Bible (Incomplete)

This large-scale manuscript contains the first eight Old Testament books, Genesis through Ruth. The date of completion is given as February 2, 1507. The illumination of the Creation within a cosmographic scheme is based in part on the woodcut illustrations of the Creation in the 1483 Koberger Bible and the 1493 Nuremberg chronicle by the same printer. Large historiated initials mark the beginning of each book. This large-format form of the Bible was revived in the low countries and Rhineland in the mid fifteenth century; later in the century such books were being made in southeast Germany and Bohemia. The style of the miniatures in this manuscript is typical of upper Austrian miniature painting of the later fifteenth century.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Made for monastic use, probably Cistercian or Carthusian, in Bohemia (?) finished on February 2, 1507; Unknown monastic owner, 18th century ["Nr. 78" written on front pastedown]; Sale, Sotheby's, London, November 9, 1931, [lot 216, to Marks (?)]; E. Dawson, Los Angeles [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Otto Ege, Cleveland, 1932, by purchase; Sale, Sotheby's London, December 11, 1984, no. 54; Walters Art Museum, 1984, by purchase.