A skilfully painted Bull, on a leaf from an illuminated Bible manuscript on parchment [northern France (doubtless Paris), thirteenth century]

A skilfully painted Bull, on a leaf from an illuminated Bible manuscript on parchment [northern France (doubtless Paris), thirteenth century]

Single leaf, with a half-page historiated initial F (opening Fuit in diebus herodis …, the opening of the Gospel of Luke) enclosing a charmingly executed brown bull, touched in places with tiny hairline white strokes, who steps from the blank margin into the body of the initial, looking back quizzically over his shoulder as he does, the initial in blue and pink bands with gold tendrils and a green wash edging, smaller initials, running titles and versal initial in red or blue (some initials with penwork), red rubrics, double column of 43 lines of tiny angular university script, Arabic numbers added in central gutter in tiny hairline strokes by a contemporary hand, small spots, else excellent condition, 160 by 112mm.

An appealing example of thirteenth-century French art.