Portable Psalter; Flanders (Ghent), 14th century, first half (c. 1320-30)

Title

Portable Psalter; Flanders (Ghent), 14th century, first half (c. 1320-30)

Shelfmark

MSS. Douce 5-6

Place of origin

Flemish, Ghent

Date

c. 1320–30

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment

Physical extent

232 + 215 leaves Leaves were trimmed in rebinding, causing the loss of decoration on most leaves.

Hands

Formal Gothic book hand.

Decoration

KL monograms on gold backgrounds decorated with human and animal heads and floral designs in the calendar. Nearly complete borders with scenes, human, animal and hybrid figures and floral designs, sometimes suggesting the Labours of the Months and the Signs of the Zodiac, e.g. ice-skating in February. Miniatures in architectural frames on gold backgrounds: January: man warming feet by the fire February: Candlemas. Church service, male and female members of the congregation holding lighted candles; priest asperging March: two men pruning a tree April: man kneeling before a woman who holds his head; background with arms of the Abbey of St Peter, Ghent September: four men picking and treading grapes October: two men knocking down acorns for pigs November: men slaughtering a pig, singeing the hair off another, emptying the intestine of a third December: two women kneading dough, and a shirtless man baking bread.

Prefatory miniatures (Douce 5, fols. 10v–17v) in gold rectangular frames decorated with birds and foliage, with corner-pieces containing portrait heads of laymen and -women in geometric frames; gold backgrounds with architectural designs and arabesque designs painted in white on gold surfaces. Misbound: the Nativity and Presentation in the Temple are out of order; a miniature depicting the Flight into Egypt is perhaps missing. fol. 10v: Annunciation. fol. 11v: Visitation. fol. 12v: Presentation in the Temple. fol. 13v: Annunciation to a Shepherdholding bagpipes; half-figure of an angel holding a scroll with an inscription: ‘Puer est natus hodie’. fol. 14v: Nativity. fol. 15v: Massacre of the Innocents. fol. 16v: Entry into Jerusalem. fol. 17v: The Throne of Grace Trinityworshipped by a kneeling veiled woman and a tonsured cleric.

Miniatures and 5- or 6-line historiated initials (7-line Beatus-initial) at liturgical divisions with scenes on gold backgrounds. Full borders decorated with scenes, human, bird, animal and hybrid figures and heads, flowers and foliage. Douce 5, fol. 18r, Psalm 1 (initial B(eatus)): King David playing harp; young David slaying Goliath. fol. 60v (miniature): The Man of Sorrows . fol. 61r, Psalm 21 (initial D(eus)): Psalmist kneeling in prayer; the face of God in clouds above. fol. 73v (miniature) Betrayal. fol. 74r, Psalm 26 (initial D(ominus)): King Davidkneeling, pointing to his eyes; the face of God in clouds above. fol. 109v (miniature): The Mocking of Christ. fol. 110r, Psalm 38 (initial D(ixi)): King Davidkneeling, pointing to his mouth; the face of God in clouds above. fol. 142v (miniature): Christ before Caiaphas. fol. 143r, Psalm 51 (initial Q(uid)): Saul stabbing himself with a sword , incited by the Devil. fol. 145v (miniature): Flagellation. fol. 146r, Psalm 52 (initial D(ixit)): King Davidspeaking to the Fool, who holds a stick and eats bread. fol. 184v (miniature): Veronica addressing Christ carrying the Cross. fol. 185r, Psalm 68 (initial S(aluu(m))): King Davidpraying in waters; half-figure of Christ above, holding an orb and blessing. Douce 6, fol. 1r, Psalm 80 (initial E(xultate)): Seated psalmist (?) playing bells. fol. 37v (miniature): Descent from the Cross. fol. 38r, Psalm 97 (initial C(antate)): Tonsured clerics, singing from a book open on a lectern supported by a child. fol. 43v (miniature): Entombment. fol. 44r, Psalm 101 (initial D(omine)): King Davidpraying before an altar with a crucifix bleeding into a chalice. fol. 78v (miniature): The Last Judgement. fol. 79r, Psalm 109 (initial D(ixit)): Trinity.

2- to 3-line initials, decorated with human and animal figures and heads, floral and geometric designs.

Full borders, decorated with scenes, human, bird, animal and hybrid figures and heads, flowers and foliage at the beginnings of psalms, canticles, litany and prayers. The scenes include a fox pretending to be dead and a magpie (Douce 5, fol. 56r); a self-portrait (?) of the illuminator (Douce 5, fol. 185r); depictions of saints near their names in the litany (Douce 6, fols. 193r–196r); a hunter, a virgin and a unicorn (Douce 5, fol. 74r, Douce 6, fol. 39r); a scribe (Douce 6, fol. 144r), etc.

1-line gold initials, decorated with alternating red and blue penwork, at the beginnings of verses and periods.

Line-endings, decorated with human and animal figures and heads.

Binding

Red velvet bindings, perhaps made for Douce; marbled paper pastedowns and flyleaves. Sewn on four cords. The spines renewed, fabric labels perhaps from the replaced spine pasted on the first fly-leaf of each volume, marked correspondingly ‘heures || i’ and ‘heures || ij’. Fols. 230v (Douce 5) and 207v (Douce 6) carry traces at the gutter of apparently four cords from a previous binding. Gilt and gauffered edges. Perhaps formerly bound as a single volume, as a single series of binder’s quire numbers continue from ‘20’ in vol. II.

Acquisition

Bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1834

Provenance

Arms of the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter, Ghent on fol. 4r of Douce 5; calendar and litany based on those of St Peter’s. Miniatures and historiated initials emphasize psalms important in secular use, including psalm 21, recited at Sunday Prime in secular use.

Erased late medieval or early modern inscriptions: Douce 5, fol. vi recto, possibly beginning ‘Hic liber ...’ [??] and Douce 6, fol. 203v, possibly beginning ‘miserere et ...’ [??].

Thomas Payne (1752–1831), London bookseller and publisher, see ODNB.

Francis Douce, 1757–1834: purchased in November 1823. A note in his Collecta, a list of his acquisitions and exchanges (Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Douce e. 68) describes it as ‘Beautiful small Horæ 2 vols. (grotesques) Payne’; bookplate, upper pastedown of both volumes.