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Fragment from a Lectern Bible: Initial E[t fecit Josias] with Josiah Aspersing the Altar

c. 1300

circle of Master Honoré

(French, Paris, active 1288–1300)
France, Paris
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
Sheet: 10.5 x 8 cm (4 1/8 x 3 1/8 in.)
Gift from J. H. Wade 1924.428
Location: not on view
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Description

This initial comes from a large bible (about 23 inches high) and introduces the opening text of the Book of Esdras: Et fecit Josias in Jerosolymis Domino (When Josiah celebrated the Passover festival in Jerusalem to his Lord). The artist, a close follower of Master Honoré at Paris, set his figure against a diapered ground of alternating gold and blue diamonds with fleur-de-lys. Instead of portraying Josiah as a Jew, however, the artist abandoned historical perspective and painted him as a Christian priest sprinkling the altar with holy water in preparation for the Mass.
Fragment from a Lectern Bible: Initial E[t fecit Josias] with Josiah Aspersing the Altar

Fragment from a Lectern Bible: Initial E[t fecit Josias] with Josiah Aspersing the Altar

c. 1300

Master Honoré

(French, Paris, active 1288–1300)
France, Paris

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