Cutting from a 15th-century Italian choirbook

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Title:: Cutting from a 15th-century Italian choirbook
Description:: Historiated initial 'T' showing the martyrdom of two saints.
Creator:: Catholic Church
Illuminator:: Birago, Giovan Pietro, active 1471-1513
Former owner:: Maggs Bros.
Date:: [ca. 1480]
Format:: Manuscripts
Genre:: Manuscripts, Latin (Medieval and modern)
Location:: Boston Public Library
Rare Books Department
Collection (local):: Medieval and Early Renaissance Manuscripts (Collection of Distinction)
Places:: Italy
Extent:: 1 leaf : parchment, ill. ; 153 x 153 mm.
Permalink:: https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/s4655v93d
Terms of Use:: No Copyright - United States
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.

Place of origin:: [Milan]
Language:: Latin
Notes:: Ms. fragment.
Title devised by cataloger.
Place, date, and attribution from: Alexander, Jonathan J. G. "Giovan Pietro da Birago, illuminator of Milan; some initials cut from choir books" in Excavating the Medieval Image (Burlington, 2004), pp. 225-246.
Origin: Produced in Italy, probably Milan, ca. 1480, the initial attributed to Giovan Pietro da Birago.
Bibliographic record created by BPL staff based on description by Dr. Lisa Fagin Davis.
Notes (acquisition):: Source of acquisition: Purchased by the BPL from Maggs.
Notes (citation):: Bond, W.H. Supplement to the Census of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the United States and Canada, p. 217
Notes (object):: Layout: Red staves barely visible on dorse.
Decoration: Historiated initial 'T' showing two saints being martyred by having hot lead poured down their throats. Identification of the Saints is uncertain: the iconography suggests they are Sts. Primus and Felicianus, who were martyred in that way, but J. J. G. Alexander (citing personal correspondence from Paola Bonfadini) identifies the subject as the martyrdom of Sts. Faustinus and Jovita (Alexander, p. 225 and n. 4).
Binding: Housed in four-flap wrapper in an oversize folder.
Identifier:: 06_01_016121-06_01_016122
Call #:: RARE BKS MS pb Med. 150
MS 1575 (no longer used)
Barcode:: 39999085844403