Original leaf from a richly illuminated manuscript Psalter/ Prayer-book. 24 lines of Latin text. Written in unusual gothic cursive script on animal vellum. (165 x 135mm - 6.6 x 5.4"). (For sister leaves see The Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations, The Cleveland Museum of Art).
North Germany, (Hildesheim?) c. 1524.
One seven-line initial in red and white on burnished gold ground with gold tracery! Two three-line initials in gold on blue or red ground. Elaborate panel borders with full gold ground strewn with diverse floral motifs. Border (recto) includes a man galloping on horseback, and (verso) includes putto bowling!
The seven-line ''H'' begins a prayer from Canticle of Canticles (KJ Song of Solomon) 4 & 5.
The two-line ''D'' begins Canticle of Canticles 2:10: ''Dilectus meus …'' (Behold my beloved speaketh to me: Arise, make haste my love, my dove, my beautiful one, & come. For winter is now past, the rain is over & gone. The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is come: the voice of the turtle is heard in our land…).
Dated 1524 in two places, the highly personalized parent manuscript bore the arms of Mansfeld, a prominent family from northern Germany, and it may have been executed for Albert, Count of Mansfeld (1480-1560). The fact that it contained a miniature of Saint Godehard, bishop of Hildesheim (d. 1038), suggests that it was produced at that location, an important bishopric and center of artistic activity at the time. Subsequently, the manuscript belonged to the Comte d'Aspremont-Lynden. It was sold at Sotheby's London as lot 100 on 23 June 1987, later appearing in the autumn 1997 catalog of Dr. Jorn Gunther (Hamburg, Germany), and afterwards dispersed. Leaves have appeared in several notable collections.
Shipped unmatted
