• Miniature of Giulio Contarini kneeling in prayer before a seated Mark and his winged lion enclosed below by two cornucopiae ending in half-length profile figures of harpies and a panel inscribed with the opening of the text of the solemn oath 'Iuro ad evangelia / sancta Dei ego Iulius Contareno / Procurator sancti Marci, Constitutuo / super comissariis de' ultra canale, qui / nunc sum, et pro tempore ero', within a border of grotesques with medallions of Theodore, the Contarini arms in a cartouche and a hilly landscape., Leaf of the Giuramento (solemn oath) of Giulio Contarini as procurator de ultra of San Marco

diplomatist: his sale 31 May 1855, lot 2257/2 (f. 5v); lot purchased for £3 3s by the British Museum, according to an annotated Western Manuscripts departmental copy of the sale catalogue. Contarini Master T.° Ve. Venice Italy, N. E. (Venice)

• Miniature of Pietro Pizzamano kneeling in prayer before a seated Virgin and Child before a green curtain, a colonade and a landscape, within a full border of interlocking gold frames containing classical armour and four horses in gold monochrome, medallions with the winged lion of Mark, Peter behind a parapet inscribed 'P', the Pizzamano arms in a cartouche suspended from a ribbon before a hilly landscape with a castle, Jerome behind a parapet inscribed 'H', and the inscriptions 'Anno / Aetatis' ' XXX / II'., Leaf of a Doge's Commission (index commissione dogale) from Pietro Lando to Pietro Pizzamano as podestà and capitano of Bassano

(inscribed erroneously 'Lot 2145', f. 5v); purchased for £3 1s by the British Museum, according to an annotated Western Manuscripts departmental copy of the sale catalogue. Commission from Pietro Lando to Pietro Pizzamano Master T.° Ve. Venice Italy, N. (Venice)

• Miniature of a female personification of Justice, holding a sword and scales, seated with her foot resting on a terrestrial globe and her robes covering two lions, flanked by female personifications of Peace and Abundance holding a scroll inscribed 'Fiat Pax in Virtute Tua et Abundantia', within an ornate border with erased arms., Leaf of a Doge's Commission (index commissione dogale) from Pasquale Cicogna to Alvise Bellegno as luogotenente of Udine

1779, d. 1845), diplomatist: his sale 31 May 1855, lot 2258/5 (f. 21v); lot purchased for £3 3s by the British Museum, according to an annotated Western Manuscripts departmental copy of the sale catalogue. Commission Venice Italy, N. E. (Venice)

• Initial with foliate decoration., Psalter, imperfect, including Odes (ff. 219v-232v)

Mielke, 1974-1980), 'Chapeau' nos. 75-79 (Rome 1537; scribe Georgios Tryphon, 1548 and 1549; scribe Ioasaph 1547; scribe Andreas Darmarios at Venice, 1565). Headpieces with geometric or foliate decoration in red, effaced (ff. 115, 219). Decorated initials and titles in light

• Historiated initial 'D' or 'O' of Christ Disputing with the Merchants. The robe of the figure to the right is inscribed 'A. P. S. VITV. SI?S'., Cutting from an Antiphoner (index antiphonary, antiphonal)

four-line red stave is visible through the illumination. Cutting from an Antiphoner (index antiphonary, antiphonal) 'SS. Pietro e Paolo in Venice' inscribed in a 19th-century hand on the verso of related cutting Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, no. 24.431 (see

• Decorated intial 'I'(n) of interlaced white vines, at the beginning of Ovid's Metamorphoses., Metamorphoses (ff. 4-138v); Tristia (six lines only) (f. 138v)

his catalogue (see~Bibliotheca Smithiana seu catalogus librorum Josephi Smithii Angli per cognomina authorum dispositus, Addenda, & Corrigenda in superiori Catalogo~ (Venice: Pasquali, 1755), p. xlviii, col. ii); sold to King George III, along with the bulk of Smith's library and

• Miniature in colours and gold, of a foliate border with medallions containing the winged lion of Mark, Francis of Assisi and Jerome, Nicholas of Bari and Stephen, and the Trivisan arms in a cartouche suspended by a ribbon before a hilly landscape, surrounding a bust portrait in profile of doge Andrea Gritti, the inscription in square capitals 'Nos Andreas / Griti / Dei Gratia Dux / Venetiarum et c[a]' and the beginning of the text of the commission: 'Committimus tibi / nobili viro Stephano Trevisano dilecto / civi et fideli nostro, q[ui] in Dei nomine / vadas in nostrum Potestatem et Rectore / Capitis Aggeris; quam civitatem, et / communitatem cum pertintiis eius / Reges a dic, quo intraveris in ipso / Regimine usq[e] ad menses xvi, et'., Leaf of a Doge's Commission (index commissione dogale) from Andrea Gritti to Stefano Trevisan (index Trivisan) as podestà and rettore of Caput Aggeris (Cavarzere, Veneto)

lot 2251/1 (f. 4v); lot purchased for £3 5s by the British Museum, according to an annotated Western Manuscripts departmental copy of the sale catalogue. Commission from Andrea Gritti to Stefano Trevisan Master T.° Ve. Venice Italy, N. E. (Venice)

• Illuminated initial 'B'(eatus) with a full border, at the beginning of Psalm 1., Psalter and Canticles (the 'Psalter of the Earl of Arundel')

written for him in 1565 by Petruccio Ubaldini (b. 1545, d. 1599), a Florentine calligrapher and writer who worked in Venice and England, from 1565 under Arundel's patronage (other manuscripts written by him are: his Italian version of 1550 of

• Historiated initial 'Q' of Peter, with the descender of the letter composed of a foliate extension of acanthus leaves (centre)., Cutting from a Gradual (sanctorale)

June): 'Qui operatus est Petro in apostolatum'. Cutting from a Gradual (sanctorale) The Camaldolese monastery of San Michele a Murano, Venice: probably cut from a volume of a Sanctorale from a lost series of Graduals produced between 1392 and 1399

• Illuminated initials 'Q'(uintus) and 'I'(nterea)., Bucolica (index Bucolics, Eclogues) (ff. 1-16v); Georgica (index Georgics) (ff. 16v-57v); Aeneis (index Aeneid) (ff. 57v-245); Appendix (ff. 245-263); Epitaphs (ff. 263-268)

of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. Illuminated initials Cristoforo Cortese Virgil (index Virgilius; Vergilius; Vergil; P. Vergilius Maro) Padua Italy, N.E. (possibly Venice or Padua)

• Illuminated initial 'U'(t)., Bucolica (index Bucolics, Eclogues) (ff. 1-16v); Georgica (index Georgics) (ff. 16v-57v); Aeneis (index Aeneid) (ff. 57v-245); Appendix (ff. 245-263); Epitaphs (ff. 263-268)

of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. Illuminated initial Cristoforo Cortese Virgil (index Virgilius; Vergilius; Vergil; P. Vergilius Maro) Padua Italy, N.E. (possibly Venice or Padua)

• Illuminated initial 'T'(urnus)., Bucolica (index Bucolics, Eclogues) (ff. 1-16v); Georgica (index Georgics) (ff. 16v-57v); Aeneis (index Aeneid) (ff. 57v-245); Appendix (ff. 245-263); Epitaphs (ff. 263-268)

of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. Illuminated initial Cristoforo Cortese Virgil (index Virgilius; Vergilius; Vergil; P. Vergilius Maro) Padua Italy, N.E. (possibly Venice or Padua)

• Headpiece with geometric and foliate decoration and inscribed with title in coloured display capitals, and decorated initial 'T'., Gospel Lectionary, imperfect

Brusa (Bursa) in Bithynia, Turkey: inscription 'Codex Prusensis' (f. 1: see Wright 1972; another manuscript from the same monastery is Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, MS gr. I, 10 (Nanianus 3), see Summary Catalogue 1999).John Covel (b. 1638, d. 1722), chaplain

• Upper cover of 15th-century binding., Bucolica (index Bucolics, Eclogues) (ff. 1-16v); Georgica (index Georgics) (ff. 16v-57v); Aeneis (index Aeneid) (ff. 57v-245); Appendix (ff. 245-263); Epitaphs (ff. 263-268)

of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. Upper cover Cristoforo Cortese Virgil (index Virgilius; Vergilius; Vergil; P. Vergilius Maro) Padua Italy, N.E. (possibly Venice or Padua)

• Lower cover of 15th-century binding., Bucolica (index Bucolics, Eclogues) (ff. 1-16v); Georgica (index Georgics) (ff. 16v-57v); Aeneis (index Aeneid) (ff. 57v-245); Appendix (ff. 245-263); Epitaphs (ff. 263-268)

of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. Lower cover Cristoforo Cortese Virgil (index Virgilius; Vergilius; Vergil; P. Vergilius Maro) Padua Italy, N.E. (possibly Venice or Padua)

• Illuminated initial 'Q'(uid) and historiated initial 'Q'(uid) with a man climbing through vines., Bucolica (index Bucolics, Eclogues) (ff. 1-16v); Georgica (index Georgics) (ff. 16v-57v); Aeneis (index Aeneid) (ff. 57v-245); Appendix (ff. 245-263); Epitaphs (ff. 263-268)

that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. Illuminated and historiated initials Cristoforo Cortese Virgil (index Virgilius; Vergilius; Vergil; P. Vergilius Maro) Padua Italy, N.E. (possibly Venice or Padua)

• Historiated initial 'P'(rimus) with a man wearing a blue hood., Bucolica (index Bucolics, Eclogues) (ff. 1-16v); Georgica (index Georgics) (ff. 16v-57v); Aeneis (index Aeneid) (ff. 57v-245); Appendix (ff. 245-263); Epitaphs (ff. 263-268)

of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. Historiated initial Cristoforo Cortese Virgil (index Virgilius; Vergilius; Vergil; P. Vergilius Maro) Padua Italy, N.E. (possibly Venice or Padua)

• Illuminated initial 'P'(ost) and historiated initial 'P'(ostque) with a bearded man., Bucolica (index Bucolics, Eclogues) (ff. 1-16v); Georgica (index Georgics) (ff. 16v-57v); Aeneis (index Aeneid) (ff. 57v-245); Appendix (ff. 245-263); Epitaphs (ff. 263-268)

that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. Illuminated and historiated initials Cristoforo Cortese Virgil (index Virgilius; Vergilius; Vergil; P. Vergilius Maro) Padua Italy, N.E. (possibly Venice or Padua)

• Illuminated initial 'A'(eneas) and historiated initial 'F'(ille) with a bearded man wearing a garland., Bucolica (index Bucolics, Eclogues) (ff. 1-16v); Georgica (index Georgics) (ff. 16v-57v); Aeneis (index Aeneid) (ff. 57v-245); Appendix (ff. 245-263); Epitaphs (ff. 263-268)

that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. Illuminated and historiated initials Cristoforo Cortese Virgil (index Virgilius; Vergilius; Vergil; P. Vergilius Maro) Padua Italy, N.E. (possibly Venice or Padua)

• Illuminated initial 'S'(eptimus) and historiated initial 'T'(u) with a woman in profile., Bucolica (index Bucolics, Eclogues) (ff. 1-16v); Georgica (index Georgics) (ff. 16v-57v); Aeneis (index Aeneid) (ff. 57v-245); Appendix (ff. 245-263); Epitaphs (ff. 263-268)

that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. Illuminated and historiated initials Cristoforo Cortese Virgil (index Virgilius; Vergilius; Vergil; P. Vergilius Maro) Padua Italy, N.E. (possibly Venice or Padua)