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Detailed record for Harley 1892


Part 1	ff. 1v-24v, 31v
	Title		Various prayers including indulgenced prayers, and Gospel Lessons
	Origin		Netherlands, N. or England
	Date		c. 1490-c. 1510
	Language		Latin
	Script		Gothic
	Artists		Master of the Dark Eyes (fl. c. 1490, c. 1520), close to Master of Cornelis Croesinck
	Decoration		2 full-page miniatures in colours and gold, of the Crucifixion (f. 1v) and of the Tree of Jesse (f. 31v)). 3 small miniatures of the Taking of Christ (f. 13), Veronica's veil (f. 17v), and of John writing (f. 19)). 6 historiated initials in ochre with gold acanthus leaves of Christ appearing to the Mary Magdalene, the Virgin and Child in bust as the Apocalyptic Woman (f. 3v), Christ (f. 4v), the Virgin and John (f. 5v), a guardian angel (f. 6v), the Man of Sorrows (f. 9), and Jerome and the lion (f. 21)). Initials in gold/ochre with blue acanthus leaves on a dark red ground patterned with gold, or in blue-grey or gold on a gold ground patterned with red. Smaller initials and line-fillers in gold on red ground. Some rubrics written in gold on a dark red ground (ff. 13, 24v). Paraphs in gold with black penwork decoration. Capitals marked with yellow.
	Dimensions in mm		290 x 205 (175 x 110)

Part 2	ff. 24-145v
	Title		Psalter
	Origin		France, W. (Rouen?), and England or Netherlands, S.
	Date		last quarter of the 15th century, or 1st quarter of the 16th century
	Language		Latin
	Script		Gothic
	Decoration		4 full-page miniatures surrounded by full borders with flowers, birds, dogs, skulls, scrolls, etc. on a gold ground, of the Taking of Christ (f. 47), the Flagellation (ff. 66v and 67), and the Harrowing of Hell (f. 109)). 8 historiated initials and full borders in colours and gold with flowers, birds, dogs, skulls, scrolls, etc, at the major Psalm divisions, of David playing the harp (f. 32), David pointing to his eyes (f. 46v), David in prayer (f. 57), a king and fool (f. 68), king David in water praying to God (f. 76v), king David playing music on bells (f. 87v), clerics chanting (f. 97v), and the Trinity (f. 108v). Small marginal calendar miniatures in colours and gold with the labours of the months and Zodiac signs integrated in a full border of acanthus leaves, flowers, birds and fruits on a gold, blue, red and unpainted ground (ff. 25-30v, 2 per page). Initials in colours and gold with acanthus leaves in grisaille.
	Dimensions in mm		290 x 205 (175 x 110)

Part 3	f. 18v
	Title		Miniature
	Origin		Netherlands, S.
	Date		last quarter of the 15th century
	Language		n/a
	Script		n/a
	Decoration		Full-page coloured ink drawing of the Taking of Christ surrounded by a full border in grisaille on unpainted ground speckled with gold, with foliate decoration including birds and a dog, after an engravings by Martin Schongauer.
	Dimensions in mm		290 x 205

Part 4	f. 115
	Title		Miniature and added border
	Origin		France, Central (Paris)(main miniature) and England (border)
	Date		2nd quarter of the 15th century
	Language		n/a
	Script		n/a
	Decoration		Miniature in gold and colours combining on two registers: the Crucifixion, the Expulsion from Paradise, a Pieta with Instruments of the Passion, the Harrowing of Hell. The border with the 12 Apostles added slightly later.
	Dimensions in mm		210 x 315 (upper part folded)

Official foliation		ff. 145 (+ 1 unfoliated paper and 2 parchment flyleaves at the beginning + 3 unfoliated parchment ruled leaves and 1 unfoliated paper flyleaf at the end)
Collation		Mostly quires of 8.
Form		Parchment codex
Binding		Post-1600. 'Harleian' binding of gold-tooled red leather; gilt edges.
Provenance		The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts. Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d. 1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library.
Notes		Contains a calendar (ff. 25-30v). The miniatures on ff. 8v, 18v, 47, 66v, 67 are copied from engravings by Martin Schongauer (see G. Gratet-Duplessis, Oeuvre de Martin Schongauer (1881), pls 5, 10, 11, 12, and 19). All full-page miniatures are painted on singletons. Part 1 was illuminated by a Dutch artist close to the Master of Cornelis Croesinck either in the Netherlands or in England (except f. 8, which is an added singleton).
Select bibliography		A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), II (1808), no. 1892. 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. 11. Anglo-Flemish Art under the Tudors (London: British Museum, 1954), no. 20 [unpublished exhibition catalogue]. Erna Auerbach, 'Anglo-Flemish Art under the Tudors', The Burlington Magazine, 96 (1954), 86-90, and 95 (p. 89). Bert Cardon, 'Het Speculum Humanae Salvationis manuscript Harley 2838 in de British Library te Londen, een handschrift omstreeks 1500 in Engeland verlucht door een miniaturist uit de Nederlanden?', in Miscellanea Neerlandica: opstellen voor Dr Jan Deschamps ter gelegenheid van zijn zeventigste verjaardag, ed. by Elly Cockx-Indestege and Frans Hendrickx, 3 vols (Louvain: Peeters, 1987), I, pp. 441-63 (p. 463 n. 45).