Cuttings with Initials from the 'Pontigny Bible', I

In early November I watched an online presentation in which Agata Gazzillo briefly showed the image above [1]; I had a sense of recognition, so I took a quick snap with my phone.

Thanks to the caption, it was easy to track down the source: A. Racinet, L’ornement polychrome: cent planches en couleurs, or et argent, contenant environ 2,000 motifs de tous les styles, art ancien et asiatique, moyen âge, renaissance, XVIIe et XVIIIe siècle (Paris, 1869 [and later editions]), pl. 39.

The easiest initial to recognise is the large 'H' in the centre: 

This is now in New York at The Met: 

The Cloisters Collection (1999.364.1)
[Source]

It was acquired by The Met in 1999 from Peter Sharrer, together with a second cutting; they are from consecutive books (Exodus & Leviticus) from the same Bible:

The Cloisters Collection (1999.364.2)
[Source]

Sharrer presumably bought them both from Bruce Ferrini, Medieval & Renaissance miniature painting (1988), in which they were nos. 2 and 3 [2].

Three decades before Ferrini, they were offered by Alan G. Thomas, Fine Books: Number Four (1958), no. 3 (sold as a pair, priced £300), with a reproduction of the Exodus 'H'. (Walter Cahn, Romanesque Bible Illumination (Cornell University Press, 1982), no. 91, later recorded that they went from Alan Thomas to a German private collection.)

Alan Thomas had perhaps got them from Bernard Quaritch Ltd, who offered them in Catalogue No. 731: A Selection of Interesting Books on a Great Variety of Subjects (1954), no. 302 (the Exodus 'H' is again the one reproduced).

The Quaritch description does not say anything about their immediate provenance, but with the passage of another few years, Alan Thomas later gave us more clues to follow. They will be discussed next time.

NOTES

[1] Agata Gazzillo (Università degli Studi di Padova), 'Lettere, bordi, figure: la miniatura tra didattica dell’ornamento e divulgazione in Italia tra Otto e Novecento', part of the conference organised by Antonia Delle Fratte: ‘Serendipitous’ Illumination fortuna,circolazione ecollezionismo del manoscritto miniato tra ‘700 e ‘800 in Europa', Padova, 3 November 2025 

[2] Sandra Hindman, Medieval & Renaissance Miniature Painting [Catalogue of an Exhibition Held at Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox Ltd, London, November-December 1988, and at Maruzen Co. Ltd. Tokyo and Nagoya, February-March 1989] (Bruce Ferrini Rare Books and Sam Fogg Rare Books & Manuscripts, 1988), pp. 4-7, 96-98.