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Psalter/prayer book

Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8)

F-avsx

Cincinnati, University of Cincinnati, John Miller Burnam Classics Library, BX2033 .P7 1524

William Duba, Fragmentarium 2024 (Born Digital)

Remarks by the Editor

Assembled from observations by Rebecka Lindau, Head, The John Miller Burnam Classics Library, University of Cincinnati with Yo Shionoya, Special Projects Student Assistant, integrating information from the seller, along with some information obtained from the Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts and the Cleveland Museum of Art.

General Information

Title Psalter/prayer book
Material Parchment
Place of Origin Germany, Hildesheim?
Date of Origin 1524-1525
General Remarks

The sales copy for this piece read:

"Original leaf from a richly illuminated manuscript Psalter - Prayer-book. 21-23 lines of Latin text. Written in unusual gothic cursive script on animal vellum. (For sister leaves see The Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations, The Cleveland Museum of Art). Northern Germany, (Hildesheim?) c. 1524.

"Three three-line illuminated initials in gold or silver on red, violet or brown ground with gold or silver tracery. Elaborate panel borders with full gold ground, strewn with diverse floral motifs - plus a fox trying to reach a rooster that is perched atop a flower, and (verso) a dog leaping across the bottom of the page - similar to Aesop's Fable!

"This leaf continues the section on the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. The illuminated "D" begins the prayer "Deus qui Beate Marie..." (The parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary conceived the angelic prophecy of God...). The illuminated "G" begins the prayer: "Gloriosa dicta..." (Glorious things are said of thee, O Mother of God...).

"This highly personalized prayer-book was written and illuminated in Germany, as evidenced by the painted Arms of Mansfeld (a prominent North German family) on a leaf, and the inclusion of St. Godehard (d. 1038), bishop of Hildesheim, portrayed as a miniature on another leaf. The date 1.524 occurs in two locations in the prayer-book."

Original Condition

Page Height 165 mm
Page Width 136 mm
Number of Columns 1
Number of Lines 20
Line Height at least 1 mm
More about the Condition

Originally 183 leaves

Current Condition

Extent 1 leaf
Dimensions 165 × 135 mm

History

Origin

Hildesheim is suggested by the mention of Saint Godehard in the calendar.
Provenance

Mansfeld family (XVI c.), Adrienne Louvignies (XVI c.), Comte d'Aspremont-Lynden (XIX c.), Brothers Michel Linel and Albert Linel (before 1892), Frankfurt-am-Main, Kunstgewerbemuseum (1892-1953).

sold at Sotheby's, Western manuscripts and miniatures, 23 June 1987 to Pairvel for 110,385 GBP

Appears in the 1997 catalog of Jörn Günther

Acquired by Bruce Ferrini. Fragments appear as lot 30 in the catalog for the 6 December 2001 auction at Sotheby's.

This fragment was purchased from Charles Edwin Puckett, Akron, Ohio.

Bibliography

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