Creative Commons License
Psalter
(Manuscripts and Rare Books)
This Gallican Psalter was created in the diocese of Constance, Southern Germany, in the first half of the thirteenth century. The psalms, which originally had an eight-part liturgical division, have been badly misbound, and approximately half of them are lost entirely. Extensively illuminated with over 100 historiated, inhabited, and decorated initials, the manuscript is impressive even in its fragmentary state. The saints found in the litany help locate the manuscript to Constance, and also suggest Cistercian use. That the manuscript was well used is attested to by late thirteenth-century additions of antiphons in the margins, as well as an added German meditation on the Passion of the same period.
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Léon Gruel and Robert Engelmann Collection, Paris, late 19th century [1]; Léon Gruel, Paris, ca. 1900 [2]; purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1905; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
[1] no. 394
[2] no. 2
Exhibitions
| 2006 | Schatzkammer: Henry Walters' German Manuscripts. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
Measurements
Folio H: 8 11/16 × W: 6 in. (22 × 15.3 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters, 1905
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
W.70
