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Detailed record for Lansdowne 420
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| Title |
Psalter, with calendar |
| Origin |
England, S. E. (London?) |
| Date |
1st quarter of the 13th century |
| Language |
Latin |
| Script |
Gothic, written above top line |
| Decoration |
10 large 'KL' initials in the calendar (July and August missing) in gold on blue and pink grounds with the occupations of the months and zodiac symbols in medallions on gold grounds in colours (ff. 2-6v). 10 full-page miniatures in two registers in colours and gold of scenes of the life of Christ (ff. 7-11v). 1 full-page miniature of David and a musician (f. 12). 1 full-page framed historiated initial in colours on a gold ground at the beginning of Psalm 1 (f. 12v). 1 large historiated initial in colours on a gold ground (f. 47v). Numerous large historiated or inhabited initials in gold on blue and pink grounds at the beginning of the other Psalms and other divisions. Small initials in gold on blue and pink grounds with white filigree decoration, some with blue and red extensions into the margins. Line fillers of red or blue penwork decoration, often in the form of fish, hands, or heads. Marginal drawings in ink or colours, including of heads. |
| Dimensions in mm |
305 x 215 (220 x 135) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 156 ( + 6 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. Red leather with gold tooling and the heraldic arms of Lansdowne; marbled endpapers. |
| Provenance |
? John Somers (b. 1651, d. 1716), Baron Somers, lawyer and politician: note dated 1738 by James West that it once belonged to Somers (f. 1).
Sir Joseph Jekyll (bap. 1662, d. 1738), lawyer and politician, brother-in-law of Somers: note dated 1738 by James West that it was purchased from him (f. 1).
James West (1703-1772), politician and antiquary: above-cited inscription that it was purchased by him from Jekyll dated 27 February 1738 (f. 1); his sale, May 1773, where all of his manuscripts were purchased by Petty (see W. P. Courtney, ‘West, James (1703-1772)’, rev. by Patrick Woodland, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29085, accessed 7 Dec 2005]).
Shelfmark or price 'LLe 108' (f. 1).
William Petty (formerly Fitzmaurice) (b. 1737, d. 1805), 2nd earl of Shelburne and 1st marquess of Lansdowne, prime minister: his book-plate with heraldic arms and the motto 'virtute non verbis' (centre of the bindings); purchased by the British Museum together with 1244 other Lansdowne manuscripts in 1807. |
| Notes |
Watermark visible: 'G. G.' (f. 1). |
| Select bibliography |
[Henry Ellis and Francis Douce], A Catalogue of the Lansdowne Manuscripts in the British Museum (London, 1819), no. 420.
Walter de Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Illustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster and Sons, 1879), p. 6.
J. A. Herbert, Illuminated Manuscripts (London: Methuen, 1911), p. 179.
John Bradley, Illuminated Manuscripts, 2nd edn (London: Bracken Books, 1920), p. 253 no. 18.
Eric. G. Millar, English Illuminated Manuscripts from the Xth to the XIIIth Century (Paris: Van Oest, 1926), p. 119.
Margaret Rickert, Painting in Britain: the Middle Ages, 2nd edn (London: Penguin Books, 1965), pp. 98, 100 pl. 96a.
Lilian M. C. Randall, Images in the Margins of Gothic Manuscripts (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966), p. 33.
Francis Klingender, Animals in Art and Thought to the End of the Middle Ages, ed. by Evelyn Antal and John Harthan (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1971), p. 399, pl. 232.
Mojmír S. Frinta, ‘Punchmarks in the Ingeborg Psalter’ in The Year 1200: A Symposium (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975), pp. 251-60 (p. 253, fig. 4).
Nigel Morgan, Early Gothic Manuscripts, 2 vols, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 4 (London Harvey Miller, 1982-1988), I: 1190-1250, no. 37, pls 126-129; II: 1250-1285, pp. 81, 117, 138.
Jonathan J. G. Alexander, Medieval Illuminators and their Methods of Work (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), p. 162 n. 87.
Nigel Morgan, ‘The Decorative Ornament of the Text and Page in Thirteenth-Century England: Initials, Border Extensions and Line Fillers’, in Decoration and Illustration in Medieval English Manuscripts, English Manuscript Studies 1100-1700, 10 (London: British Library, 2002), pp. 1-33 (p. 13, pls 14, 17).
C. M. Kauffmann, Biblical Imagery in Medieval England 700-1500 (London: Harvey Miller, 2003), p. 173. |
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ff. 6v-7
December, the Annuciation and Visitation |
f. 6v
December |
f. 7
The Annunciation and Visitation |
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f. 7v
The Nativity and Annuciation to the Shepherds |
f. 8v
Magi |
f. 9
Death of Herod, Joseph's Dream |
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f. 9v
Christ teaching, Return from Egypt |
f. 10v
The Raising of Lazarus; Entry into Jerusalem |
f. 11
The Last Supper |
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ff. 11v-12
The Betrayal; David |
f. 11v
The Betrayal |
f. 12
David and musician |
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ff. 12v-13
Beatus page and initial |
f. 12v
Beatus page |
f. 13
Christ blessing |
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f. 54
Detail |
f. 54v
Detail |
f. 62
Standing figure |
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