15th century antiphonal fragment with beautiful illuminated "L" for St Lawrence

15th-century antiphonal fragment with a large gold-leaf illuminated initial and decorated Lombard initials. Likely Italian in origin, dated c.1450–1500.

An antiphonal (or antiphonary) is a large liturgical choir book used in Christian monastic and cathedral settings. It contains the chanted portions of the Divine Office, particularly antiphons—short liturgical texts sung before and after psalms and canticles.This is an eight-leaf fragment. Each leaf contains 11 lines of music and text, written on red four-line staves. Text and square notation are in black ink, with large initials in red and blue. The script is Gothic Rotunda, characteristic of 15th-century Italian liturgical manuscripts.

• Large-format manuscript on parchment: 47 × 34 cm

• Staining to the opening leaf; minor marks to other leaves. Small cut-out sections at the lower corners.

• Several decorated initials incorporate human faces, showing a high degree of craftsmanship. The large opening initial “L” is in red, blue, and gold.

The fragment is bound in a later soft fabric binding, likely 18th-century, made from reclaimed hand-woven tapestry which is itself of interest and decorative value.

The illuminated “L” opens the service for the Feast of Saint Lawrence, including text from Psalm 111: Beatus vir qui timet Dominum. The other chants across the seven remaining leaves include pieces for Saint Agnes, Saint Paul, Saint Peter, and the Virgin Mary.

This fragment most likely comes from the Sanctorale (the section of the antiphonal containing chants for saints’ feast days), rather than the Temporale (which covers Sundays and the liturgical seasons). The chants derive from the Antiphonale Romanum, the official Catholic liturgical source for the Divine Office.

The antiphonal is housed in a later worn box and would reward further scholarly study. A valuable tool for researching the chants is the Cantus Database: https://cantusdatabase.org/feasts/?date=temp.