Original leaf from a medieval Psalter. 18 lines of ruled Latin text, written in gothic liturgical bookhand script on animal vellum. (150 x 108mm - 6 x 4.3")
One two-line illuminated initial in heavy burnished gold with gold infill and inhabited with a songbird. The initial extends along the left margin in burnished gold on blue & pink ground with delicate white tracery; twenty one-line illuminated initials alternating in blue with red pen-work, and burnished gold with blue pen-work (many extending into the margin).
French Flanders, c. 1275-1300.
The first illuminated ''D'' (recto) begins Habacuc (King James Habakkuk) 3:3-9: ''Deus ab austro…'' (God will come from the south and the holy one from mount Pharan: His glory covered the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise…). The two-line inhabited ''D'' (verso) begins Habacuc 3:2: ''Domine audivi…'' (O Lord, I have heard thy hearing, and was afraid. O Lord, thy work, in the midst of the years bring it to life…).
Shipped in archival 14x11'' mat.