The ‘Saxe-Meiningen Psalter’, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on

The ‘Saxe-Meiningen Psalter’, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum, [northern France or adjacent southern Netherlands, second half of the thirteenth century], 197 leaves (plus a paper endleaf at front and back), wanting some leaves (see below) but most probably complete as in Early Modern period, collation: i16, ii-v12, vi11 (last leaf a singleton), vii-ix12, x-xii16, xiii12, xiv11 (last but one leaf wanting; but without loss of text), xv12, xvi3 (uncertain, this the remainder of a quire; but text here complete), a note on p. 1 in an Early Modern hand apparently stating that the volume then had “237 leaves (the probably garbled inscription is “folio . iicxxxvii”), and the missing leaves most probably including a Calendar at the front and prayers and devotions at the end, these removed by the Early Modern period when what is likely to be the same Early Modern hand as before re-paginated the book in Roman numerals ‘i - cciiiixxviii’ (omitting ‘x’ and ‘ciiiixxiii’) and then from there in Arabic numerals ‘289-396’ (with repetition of ‘350-359’ and omission of ‘370-379’), text in single column of 18 lines of an elegant gothic bookhand, one-line initials in gold or blue with blue or red penwork, 2-line initials in gold on blue and dark pink grounds, line-fillers in geometric shapes in same colours, eight large historiated initials in blue, dark pink or warm orange with white brushwork overlaid, enclosing figures on wide burnished gold grounds and within gold frames, some initials with opening line of text in white capitals on coloured bands, some scuffs to gold and paint in places, slight cockling throughout, small spots and stains, slightly trimmed at edges (only affecting edges of decoration on p. 289), else good condition, 164 x 113mm.; bound in early nineteenth-century roan, with lower cover scuffed, joints slightly worn and a few small cracks, and remains of an old paper label (with apparent shelfmark; the same perhaps in nineteenth-century hand on front endleaf) at foot of spine, in a half-morocco fitted case, with gilt inscriptions on spine *** A fine and glittering thirteenth-century Psalter, with a distinguished German Ducal provenance. Provenance: 1. Written and illuminated in the second half of the thirteenth century for a wealthy commissioner who lived close to the French-Belgian border, perhaps on the Southern Netherlandish side. 2. An Early Modern owner, most likely from the Protestant Low Countries, then appears to have removed the Calendar and some prayers and devotions from either end of the book, perhaps to align the book with post-Reformation Use, while preserving the Biblical text. This same owner appears to have paginated the book. 3. The private ducal library of the Dukes of Saxe-Meiningen housed in Schloss Elisabethenburg in Meiningen. The ducal library was begun by Duke Bernhard I (1649-1706), and added to by many of his successors, under whom Elisabethenburg grew to be perhaps the most important cultural centre of the region. This book has their large oval inkstamp in the bas-de-page of the first leaf (with inscription: “HERZOGLICHER S. MEININGISCHER BIBLIOTHEK”). The ducal library was split into two shortly after the accession of Duke Georg I to the throne in November 1782, with a private library retained within the palace, and a public one in the town that was open to civil servants and the educated public. The public library was looted by the Soviets in 1945, and only a few volumes from it have been recovered. Thankfully, the present book remained in the ducal private library, and passed by descent until it was sold in Christie’s on 29 November 1995 (lot 7). 4. Bought there by a private collector, who then reconsigned it to sale in the same auction house on 14 December 2022 (lot 36), where it sold to the present owner. Text: This volume comprises the entire sequence of Psalms, with Psalm 116 followed by Psalm 119-120 (here on pp. 299-301), and Psalm 117-118 (here on pp. 301-327), then continuing with Psalm 121-150; followed by the Canticles, terminating after three verses of the Benedictus (here on pp. 372-396); to this an early owner added prayers and related readings on originally blank leaves (here on pp. 286-287) in a hand of the late thirteenth or first half of the fourteenth century. Illumination: The large historiated initials here are related in style and content to the output of Paris in the decades before 1250 (see R. Branner, Manuscript Painting in Paris During the Reign of St Louis, 1977), and in facial features, emphatic black outlines and compositional patterns they compare closely to a Psalter attributed to the Parisian Soissons Workshop and datable before 1247 (now New York, Morgan Library, M.283). However, the text decoration, with its compact flourishing, boldly patterned two-line initials and the restrained extensions from the historiated initials, suggest an origin outside of Paris, perhaps even in the Southern Netherlands. Parisian models were influential in the Southern Netherlands in the period (see, for example, J. Oliver, Gothic Manuscript Illumination in the Diocese of Liège (c.1259-1350), 1988; and A. Stones, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in France, Gothic Manuscripts 1260-1320, 2013-14). The subjects of the historiated initials are: (1) p. 1, David seated and harping (accompanying Psalm 1); (2) p. 57, David seated, anointed by a standing Samuel (accompanying Psalm 26); (3) p. 93, David most probably pointing to his mouth (accompanying Psalm 38); (4) p. 128, a fool with a circular loaf of bread and crude club formed from a large stick (accompanying Psalm 52); (5) p. 162, David in the waters in the lower compartment, with God the Father appearing in the upper compartment (accompanying Psalm 68); (6) p. 205, David playing the bells (accompanying Psalm 80); (7) p. 244, David probably pointing to his eyes as God appears in the heavens above (accompanying Psalm 97); (8) p. 289, the Trinity, with God the Father and Christ seated as the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a white dove, with a long-necked dragon biting the upper part of the initial, forming the ascender of the initial with his elongated body (accompanying Psalm 109).

Estimation:€35,832.96

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