Fragmentary Psalter, Binding, Walters Manuscript W.16, Lower board outside
Image by Walters Art Museum Illuminated Manuscripts
Wood boards are original, but ornate gilded metal cover, with Christ enthroned surrounded by Evangelists in medallions, is a nineteenth-or early twentieth-century pastiche, however a letter from Gruel in the file states he thought it was authentic; champlevé enamel panels embedded in cover are, however, authentic, and date to ca. 1200, Germany (one was removed due to condition in 1955); red velvet on lower board is nineteenth century
This fragmentary Psalter was made in the thirteenth century in Southern Germany. Several quires are missing from the beginning and end of the book, resulting in the loss of a large portion of the psalms, as well as most of the Office of the Dead. The manuscript itself has no decoration outside of slightly enlarged red initials. However, an ornate gilded and jewel-encrusted cover was added to the original wood boards in the late nineteenth- or early twentieth century, and it is a product of that era. The only original medieval elements within this pastiche are the thirteenth-century enamels, which are of Cologne origin.
All manuscript images and descriptions were created and are provided through Preservation and Access grants awarded to the Walters Art Museum by the National Endowment for the Humanities, 2008-2014.
Access a complete set of high-resolution archival images of this manuscript for free on the Digital Walters at www.thedigitalwalters.org/Data/WaltersManuscripts/html/W16
For a digital “turning the pages” presentation of this manuscript and downloadable PDFs, visit the Walters Art Museum’s Works of Art Web site at www.art.thewalters.org/detail/1250
Fragmentary Psalter, Binding, Walters Manuscript W.16, Lower board outside is a post from: Dark Lord Clothier
