Leaf from the Melk Missal: Christ in Majesty

This missal, which dates to the late twelfth or early thirteenth century, was made for the Benedictine abbey of Melk (or possibly Seitenstetten) in Lower Austria, as indicated by the inclusion of local saints. The surviving volume of a multi-volume missal, the manuscript contains only the ordinary of the mass and the "summer part," with the temporale running from Holy Saturday through the Sunday after Trinity Sunday and the sanctorale beginning with the feast of Primus and Felicianus (June 9) and ending with St. Andrew (November 30). Most notable about the manuscript are its skilled pen drawings, including two full-page miniatures depicting Christ in Majesty and the Crucifixion, as well as sixteen ornate initials, three of which are by the artist known as Gottschalk of Lambach.

Inscription

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Benedictine abbey of Melk or Seitenstetten [patron saints of Melk - Peter and Paul, and Cholomannus (fol. 212r), liturgy for use in Melk diocese] [made for the abbey]; [textual additions and corrections in 13th-15th century hands]; [rear pastedown is 15th-century breviary folio]; Seitenstetten Stiftsbibliothek, 1913 [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [Ms. 127, described in 1913 Swarzenski publication]; Jacques Rosenthal [bookplate on inside of upper binding] [cat. 90, 1928 no. 167]; Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.