Psalter

Description Exhibitions Provenance Credit

Description This psalter was produced in a monastery in the Diocese of Augsburg in the mid thirteenth century, as shown by entries in the calendar and litany. The decoration includes six full-page miniatures, ten historiated initials, and seasonal and zodiac roundels for each month. Related manuscripts include New York, New York Public Library Ms. Spencer 11 and Augsburg, Augsburg University Library Ms. 1.2.qu.19. The text has been supplied with marginal notes throughout in Latin and German, and a fourteenth-century deed discussing property of the Bazth and Ladon families has been included as a flyleaf.

Exhibitions

Flight, Fantasy, Faith, Fact. Dayton Art Institute, Dayton. 1953-1954.
The Psalms of David in the Middle Ages. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1996.
Schatzkammer: Henry Walters' German Manuscripts. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2006.
Living by the Book: Monks, Nuns, and Their Manuscripts. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2013.

Provenance Monastery in the Diocese of Augsburg, mid 13th century (calendar and litany); Bénigne-Charles Févret de Saint-Mémin (1770-1852) [see bookplate, front pastedown]; Sale, Kupitsch, Vienna, 1840 [see inscription, fol. 1r]; Professor Victor Goldschmidt, Heidelberg (d. 1927), by purchase (?); Léon Gruel, Paris, [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, before 1931 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters

Download PDF Add to Collection Creative Commons License

Creator

German (Artist)

Period

mid 13th century

Medium

ink and pigments on thick parchment between purple velvet over millboard; sewn on five thin recessed cords; blind-tooled with an ivy leaf rolled border and a three-line roll formed into a saltire (ca. 1900)
(Manuscripts & Rare Books)

Accession Number

W.78

Measurements

Folio H: 8 15/16 x W: 6 1/4 in. (22.7 x 15.8 cm)

Geographies

Germany, Augsburg (Place of Origin)

Location Within Museum

Not On View

Binding from Psalter	Title
mid 13th century	Period
W.78.binding	Accession

Initial "D" with St. Cesarius of Terracina	Title
mid 13th century	Period
W.78.110V	Accession

Initial "D" with SS. Elizabeth and Catherine	Title
mid 13th century	Period
W.78.98R	Accession

Initial "C" with David Playing the Bells	Title
mid 13th century	Period
W.78.95V	Accession

Decorated initial "E"	Title
mid 13th century	Period
W.78.82R	Accession

Initial "S" with dragon	Title
mid 13th century	Period
W.78.67R	Accession

Initial "D" with man holding a sword and cup	Title
mid 13th century	Period
W.78.55R	Accession

Initial "Q" with St. Michael slaying a dragon	Title
mid 13th century	Period
W.78.54R	Accession

Initial "D" with Mary Magdalene	Title
mid 13th century	Period
W.78.41V	Accession

Initial "D" with King Oswald	Title
mid 13th century	Period
W.78.29R	Accession

Initial "B" with David Harping and Enthroned	Title
mid 13th century	Period
W.78.9R	Accession

December Calendar with Hog and Capricorn in roundels	Title
mid 13th century	Period
W.78.8V	Accession

November Calendar with Goose and Sagittarius in roundels	Title
mid 13th century	Period
W.78.8R	Accession

October Calendar with Bunch of Grapes and Scorpio in roundels	Title
mid 13th century	Period
W.78.7V	Accession

September Calendar with Winepress and Libra in roundels	Title
mid 13th century	Period
W.78.7R	Accession

August Calendar with Tonsured Man and Virgo in roundels	Title
mid 13th century	Period
W.78.6V	Accession

July Calendar with Woman with a Sickle and Leo in roundels	Title
mid 13th century	Period
W.78.6R	Accession

June Calendar with Man with a Scythe and Cancer in roundels	Title
mid 13th century	Period
W.78.5V	Accession

May Calendar with Man Wearing a Wreath and Gemini in roundels	Title
mid 13th century	Period
W.78.5R	Accession

April Calendar with Plant and Taurus in roundels	Title
mid 13th century	Period
W.78.4V	Accession