Beschreibung:

PSALTER WITH CALENDAR AND LITANY, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
PSALTER WITH CALENDAR AND LITANY, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Flanders, probably Ghent, c.1270-80] 105 x 70mm. iii + 211 + iii leaves: 1 6(of 8, lacking i & ii, possibly cancelled blanks), 2-7 1 2, 8 1 1(of 12, lacking viii), 9 1 0, 10 8, 11 1 1(of 12, lacking i), 12-13 1 2, 14 1 1(ii a singleton), 15-18 1 2, 19 9(of 10, lacking vii), 20 1(of 12, lacking i-x and xii a cancelled blank), three of the lacking leaves with historiated initials, an inserted singleton with Beatus initial lacking or unsupplied before gathering 2, catchwords and signatures, often cropped, surviving in many places, 17 lines in brown ink in a small gothic bookhand, text capitals touched red, one-line initials alternately gold with blue penwork or blue with red penwork, each Psalm opening with three-line initials of burnished gold on text-height grounds of blue, pink and burnished gold, line-endings of the same colours, TWELVE CALENDAR ILLUMINATIONS OF THE OCCUPATIONS OF THE MONTHS in gold and colours, SIX LARGE HISTORIATED INITIALS with three-sided borders often terminating in little heads or grotesques (ff.128-29 with lower outer quarters excised, final leaf defective, rubbed and thumbed throughout, especially affecting burnished gold areas, three of the Calendar illustrations with severe pigment losses). CONTEMPORARY PINK-STAINED LEATHER BINDING, over thin wooden boards, sewn on five split thongs, fastened with a clasp over central metal pin on lower cover (replacement strap, some worming, surface-splits at spine and joints, maybe upper cover repaired). PROVENANCE: The Psalter was certainly produced in Flanders and seems most likely to have been written in Ghent or for use in Ghent: the Calendar contains, in red, the feasts of St Amand (6 February), St Livinus (12 November) and St Nicasius (14 December) and, in black Saints Macarius (9 May), Bavo (1 October) and Amalberga Virgin (10 July). The Litany contains Bavo, Macarius and Landoald among the confessors and Amalberga and Parahildis among the virgins: the relics of all these saints were in Ghent. Eduardo J. Bullrich, Argentinian writer and collector, his leather bookplate inside upper cover; by inheritance to D. L. Alvear and sold Sotheby's 19 march 1952, lot 314; Alan G. Thomas (1911-1992), his bookplate inside upper cover and his sale, Sotheby's 21 June 1993, lot 12. CONTENT: Calendar ff.1-6; Liturgical Psalter, lacking leaves with the openings of Psalms 1, 68 and 80 and part leaves with the openings of Psalms 100 and 101, ff.7-189; Canticles ff.189-207; Litany, lacking a leaf with Confessors ff.207-210v. Ten leaves with the final text, perhaps an Office of the Dead, have been excised. The front endleaves are from a thirteenth-century work on ecclesiastic law or monastic rule. Prayers have been added in a fourteenth-century hand to a final blank. ILLUMINATION: Albeit somewhat worn, this is a manuscript of great charm: unrestored, preserving its medieval binding and with the mixture of secular and religious subject-matter that one can imagine provided pleasure and entertainment to lighten the devotions of its medieval owner. It demonstrates the qualities of intimacy and immediacy afforded by the small-format Psalters produced when they were still the most popular and widespread prayerbook for the laity. The lively little Calendar figures are dressed in gold and set, unframed, against the unpainted vellum. Similarly displayed figures following the same occupations are found in a Psalter in Baltimore (Walters Art Gallery, W.117) where the golden clothing is thought to show influence from Liège and the iconography of the Calendar is particularly associated with Ghent manuscripts: L.M.C. Randall, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery , III, Belgium 1250-1530, 1, pp.13-14. Combined with the evidence of the feasts and and Litany this supports localising the present manuscript to Ghent. The Occupations illustrating the months are as follows: a man warming