Leaf from Psalter: Psalm 52, Initial D with Fool Holding a Club and Biting a Loaf

Description This page from Psalm 52 has a large, illuminated initial D with a fool holding a club and biting a loaf. The Psalter was created in French Flanders for a lady with Cistercian connections in the third quarter of the thirteenth century. Fourteenth-century additions for the use of a woman suggest that it continued to be used by female supplicants for some time after its creation. A prefatory cycle of ten full-page miniatures was also added in the fourteenth century, which complemented the original, and more traditional, series of ten historiated initials found within the Psalter.

Provenance Created for unknown woman with Cistercian connections, Northeastern France (Flanders), 3rd quarter 13th century. Jacques Rosenthal collection, Munich, late 19th century [1]. Léon Gruel, Paris, early 20th century [2]; purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore, early 20th century; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931. [1] 1901 dealer catalog 27, no. 74 [2] Bookplate on the front flyleaf inscribed no. 63

Credit Purchased by Henry Walters, after 1902