Original leaf from a richly illuminated manuscript Psalter - Prayer-book. 23 lines of Latin text. Written in unusual gothic cursive script on animal vellum. (165 x 135mm - 6.6 x 5.4")
North Germany, (Hildesheim?) c. 1524.
Two three-line illuminated initials in silver on blue-gray ground with silver tracery.
Elaborate panel borders with full gold ground, strewn with diverse floral motifs – plus putto, with red and golden wings, dancing in the lower right corner, and (verso) a burgher, in fine attire, wearing a blue hat and carrying a musical instrument in his right hand, and a large cup in his left.
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 1524 occurs in two locations in the prayer-book.
For sister leaves see The Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations, The Cleveland Museum of Art, # 65, 66, 67).
Presented in an archival 14x11'' mat.
