Leaf from the Psalter within a Breviary, illuminated manuscript in Latin on vellum, [France (Paris?), 14th century)]

Property from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery

Leaf from the Psalter within a Breviary

Illuminated manuscript in Latin on vellum. [France (Paris?), 14th century (2nd quarter or middle?)]

Single leaf, c.173×125mm; 2 columns of 30 lines (115x75mm); the text comprising Psalms 104:23–105:11, with antiphons between the psalms; densely illuminated with gold and penwork initials and line-fillers.

LITERATURE:

Scott Gwara, Otto Ege’s Manuscripts (Cayce, SC, 2013), Handlist no. 24; citing leaves at five American institutions, plus many others that possess a portfolio of ‘Fifty Original Leaves’, in which leaves from this manuscript were no. 24; the leaves at Kenyon College and Amhurst are particularly close to the present one.

PROVENANCE:

Otto Ege/Philip Duschnes

Ege attributed the manuscript to Canterbury, and stated that it is Use of Sarum, but the evidence for this is now not known. While certainly French, not English, it could perhaps have been produced ‘for the English market’, as stated by Gwara.

Otto Ege

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Gallery purchase, 1940 (1940:355.18)