Two original leaves (four pages - not continuous) from a medieval manuscript Psalter-Hours. 13 lines of ruled Latin text, written with black ink on animal vellum. (172 x 230mm - 6 1/4 X 9 1/8'') Some loss in upper outside corner margins and one leaf carefully stitched back together (very long ago) across lower margin, beneath text. France, c. 1325-50 - nearly 700 years old!
Wonderful whimsical paintings in lower margins displaying a blue, pink and gold bar being pulled by fanciful creatures. Each bar contains a seated or standing dog or rabbit.
One two-line illuminated initial in pink with an interior floral motif in red and blue and burnished gold, on a deep blue ground extending into the margin; fourteen one-line illuminated initials in burnished gold on blue and pink ground with delicate white penwork; thirteen illuminated line-extenders in burnished gold, blue, orange - pink - three with fish!
The first illuminated blue “E” begins Psalm 122 (King James 123) 2-4: ''Ecce sicut...'' (Behold as the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters...). The large illuminated ''N'' begins Psalm 123 (KJ 124) 1-6: ''Nisi quia...'' (If it had not been that the Lord was with us, let Israel now say…). The illuminated ''Q'' begins Psalm 12 (KJ 13) 5 - 6 followed Psalm 42 (KJ 43) 1-4: ''Qui tribulant...'' (Judge me O God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy...).
Provenance: Estate of Dr. I. J. Weiler, Urbano, IL
Presented in archival 11x14'' mat
