CHORAL SERVICE BOOK

This book contains elaborate decoration on its first page of music. The size of this manuscript indicates that it was used by a small to medium -sized community. (compare its size to the Rice Antiphonary Page in the Liturgical Books case). The first service in this manuscript is the Sanctorale for the feast of St. Agnes and it is the martyred Agnes who appears in the initial. The illustrations are drawn and painted in detail. Gold leaf is employed both within the illustrations and as part of the ornamental border. For a small or medium sized community, this choral service book could have been a treasured display copy. Indeed, there is some speculation that this manuscript originally belonged to a small seminary in Rome . The manuscript is also in excellent condition, which speaks to the care with which it was treated.

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