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East Anglian Psalter
(Manuscripts and Rare Books)
This English Psalter was made for an East Anglian patron at the beginning of the fourteenth century. The original Psalter contains a calendar for adapted Sarum use, the Psalms, Canticles, Litany, and Office of the Dead, with additional prayers in a humanist hand added by a fifteenth-century owner. The text is incomplete; about two dozen leaves have been removed, resulting in missing historiated initials and several partial Psalms and Canticles. Three extant historiated initials, accompanied by incipits in gold, stand out among a multitude of smaller painted and flourished initials. The majority of the text is written in an accomplished textualis prescissa. This Psalter has stylistic and textual connections to the Gorleston Psalter (British Library, Add. Ms. 49622) and the Ormesby Psalter (Bodleian Library, Douce Ms. 366), placing it firmly within the tradition of East Anglian manuscript production in the first half of the fourteenth century.
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.
Colonel Cotes collection; his sale, London, March 18, 1900, no. 289 to Bernard Quaritch; obtained from Wilfrid M. Voynitch; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1900-1931.
Exhibitions
| 2009 | The Saint John's Bible: A Modern Vision through Medieval Methods. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
| 2002 | The Book of Kings: Art, War, and the Morgan Library's Medieval Picture Bible. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Academy Art Museum, Easton; Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton; The Mitchell Gallery, Annapolis; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown. |
| 1996-1997 | Music in Manuscripts. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
| 1997 | Medieval Matters: Illuminated Manuscripts from the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, and The Library of Mr. Harry A. Walton. Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar. |
| 1993-1994 | Medieval Writing and Calligraphy. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
| 1984-1985 | Illuminated Manuscripts: Masterpieces in Miniature. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
| 1959 | The Medieval Craftsman and His Modern Counterpart. Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington; Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane University, New Orleans. |
Measurements
Overall: 13 3/8 x 8 11/16 in. (34 x 22 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters
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.79