The Ferial Psalter of Cipriano Uberti, Inquisitor General of Vercelli, of Dominican Use, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum

232 leaves, plus 6 preliminary leaves, 498 mm. by 352 mm., complete (as of 1593), collation: 6 preliminaries + i-xxix^{8, contemporary foliation (followed here) begins at '9' (1-8 having been cancelled in 1593 and replaced by 6 unfoliated leaves) and omits '18', 19 lines, written-space 345 mm. by 234 mm., written in dark brown ink in a large rounded gothic liturgical hand, rubrics in red,} many thousands of decorated initials, one- and 2-line, in red or blue with intricate and skilful penwork in purple or red, the second letter of each psalms in calligraphic style washed in yellow including about seventy-five very fine portrait busts of men, women and ecclesiastics, finely drawn with delicately hatched shading, considerably updated and altered in 1593 (see below), many leaves corrected and some partly or entirely re-written then, fol. 190 a complete replacement, full-page illuminated coat-of-arms on fol. 16v, with elaborate mantling, eight very large historiated and illuminated initials, with partial floral borders, (1) folio 19r, King David seated in the wilderness playing his psaltery, 120 mm. by 110 mm., three-quarter illuminated floral border, (2) folio 63v, coat-of-arms, 122 mm. by 120 mm.; (3) folio 86v, King David placing a finger to his lips ("Dixi custodiam"), 130 mm. by 122 mm.; (4) folio 105r, Saint Paul with a book, a coloured engraving pasted into an illuminated initial, 120 mm. by 117 mm.; (5) folio 123v, flowers and emblems of Uberti, 125 mm. by 120 mm.; (6) folio 150v, King David playing the viol, 122 mm. by 120 mm.; (7) folio 171r, coat-of-arms, 130 mm. by 120 mm.; and (8) folio 197v, Saint Dominic, with lily and book, 122 mm. by 124 mm., rather battered but generally sound and in acceptable condition, contemporary binding of massive wooden boards covered with blind-stamped leather and mounted with elaborate stamped and pierced metal fittings and bosses (very possibly from the original binding of c.1500, a few missing), lower pastedown from a bifolium of a fourteenth-century choirbook, textile book markers hanging between the pages, apparently rebacked, binding worn

provenance

The manuscript was written around 1500 but was left unfinished or only partially illuminated.  A long account on fols. 15v-16r records how in the pontificate of Clement VIII (pope 1592-1605), in the reign of Charles-Emanuel (duke of Savoy 1580-1630) and his wife Catherina (daughter of Philip II), and under the rule of Ippolito-Maria Beccaria (Master General of the Dominicans 1589-1600), this Psalter was completed and corrected at the order and expense of the reverend father Friar Cypriano Uberti of Ivrea, O.P., Master of Theology and Inquisitor of Vercelli, Ivrea and of the duchy of Aosta, and that this work was executed by Friar Euchario Bonetto, of Rieti, and finished on 24 August 1593.  The date 1593 also appears on fols. 105r and 150r. 

Cipriano Uberti was Inquisitor General of Vercelli, Ivrea and Aosta, from at least 1585 until his death in 1607.  He was responsible for persecution of the Jews and for burning copies of the Torah in Vercelli in 1592.  He wrote several devotional texts (cf. O. Derossi, Scrittori piemontesi, savoiardi, nizzardi, Turin, 1790, p. 29; and H. A. Bosmajian, Burning Books, 2006, p. 94).  The full-page coat-of-arms on fol. 16v is doubtless his, with a spear and halbard and the motto "utrunque necessarium verbum dei disce pati", 'whatever is necessary that the Word of God may be known'.  The same arms occur in the initials on fols. 63v and 171r, and in the border of fol. 187v.  The emblem at the foot of the Beatus page (fol. 19r) is probably his, with violets, a lactating breast and the opening of a bar of music, within a wreath inscribed "uber ut"; the same devices occur in the initial on fol. 123v, inscribed in red capitals "F. CYPRIANUS INQ[UISITOR]".

Euchario Bonetto was apparently both corrector and artist.  The historiated initial on fol. 86v is signed by him in white capitals, "FR. EVCHARIVS FACIEB[AT]".

From a private collection; and by descent to the present owner.

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing where appropriate.
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