Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Arts, L.2015-0062

Cantus Siglum

J-Tksb L.2015-0062

Holding Institution

Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Arts (J-Tksb)

Manuscript/Print

Manuscript

Summary

Single leaf from a notated antiphonary. 520 x 340 mm; writing area 378 x 235 mm.

Liturgical Occasions

Stephen and John the Evangelist (December 26 and 27)

Description

Single leaf from a large decorated antiphonary of the early 15th century. It probably originated in the southern Netherlands (Franco-Flemish area) or Tournai.

The "Q" at the start of the first Matins responsory for John the Evangelist (on the verso side) contains a miniature of the saint in orange and green, with gold leaf filling the surrounding space.

This fragment, now in Tokyo, is one of the twenty-four illuminated leaves sold on July 11, 1966 at Sotheby's in London, and in November 1966 at Philip C. Duschnes' in New York. It was acquired by Dr. Hiroshi Naito, who donated it to the National Museum of Western Arts in 2015 (Naitō 015).

Selected Bibliography

Catalogue of Important Western and Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures ... Day of Sale Monday, 11th July 1966, London, 1966, p. 47, n° 213 [Auction Catalogue of the Sotheby & Co.].

Philip C. Duschnes, Mediaeval Miniatures and Illuminations, New York, 1966, p. [2], [4]-[10], n° 1-15 (Catalogue n° 179) [Duschnes, Auction Catalogue of the 19th november 1966].

Peter Kidd, The McCarthy Collection, vol. 2, Spanish, English, Flemish and Central European Miniatures, London, 2019, pp. 130-133, Cat. 26a-b.

Akiko Komada, Asuka Nakada (dir.), Microcosms of Words and Images. Manuscript Leaves from the Naitō Collection in the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, [2020], pp. 44-45, cat. 19.

Akiko Komada, Asuka Nakada (dir.), Manuscript leaves in the Naitō collection, the National Museum of Western Art: a catologue raisonné, Tokyo, 2024.

Shin NISHIMAGI, "Fragments notés des manuscrits de la collection Naitō au Musée National d’Art Occidental à Tokyo", Ekphrasis. Journal of European Cultural Studies (Waseda Unversity), 15 (2025), p. 79-102, part. p. 84-85.

Notes on the Inventory

The inventory for J-Tksb L. 2015-0062 was completed by Shin Nishimagi (Adjunct Researcher of the Institute for European Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Waseda University, Tokyo) with editorial assistance from Debra Lacoste (Dalhousie University).

Full/Partial Inventory