Leaf from a Psalter, illuminated manuscript in Latin on vellum, [England (East Anglia?), 14th century]

Property from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery

Leaf from a Psalter

Illuminated manuscript in Latin on vellum. [England (East Anglia?), 14th century (early)]

Single leaf, c.170×110 mm; 2 columns of 20 lines (c.120×75mm); the text comprising Psalm 104:23–45; each verse with an illuminated initial, some with flower extensions, one with a dragon-foliage hybrid creature; the recto with offsets of 17th(?)-century writing in English in the lower margin.

Specimens of 14th-century English illumination are particularly sought-after and scarce on the market.

LITERATURE:

Sotheby’s, 21 June 1994, lot 12(c)

Scott Gwara, Otto Ege’s Manuscripts (Cayce, SC, 2013), Handlist no. 17; citing leaves at two American institutions, plus many sets of Ege’s portfolio of ‘Fifty Original Leaves’ in which leaves from this manuscript were no. 17.

PROVENANCE:

Otto Ege/Philip Duschnes

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; acquired from a private collection, 1952 (1952:263.1)