DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14714#0048
DESCRIPTION OF MS.
A PSALTER OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
IN THE POSSESSION OF R. S. HOLFORD, ESQ.
IFFERENT epochs of the art of illumination present widely different and distinct styles ; the
most showy and best known, though perhaps the least pure and inventive in design, bein"-
that of the middle and end of the 15th century ; whilst the period perhaps the least generally
known, that of the 13th century, may be considered as the most interesting and original; many
of the best works of that period displaying an astonishing variety and profusion of invention.
The MS., of which two pages form the opposite plate, may be ranked among the most
elaborate and profusely ornamented of the fine books of that era; every page being sufficient to
make the fortune of a modern decorator, by the quaint and unexpected novelties of invention
which it displays at every turn of its intricate design. One of the pages selected as specimens
fully bears out these remarks: a pale blue dragon linked to a red fox-headed dragon, that seizes
and combines itself with other intricate ornaments (the tail of the former spreading itself
into three compartments, each of which is a little picture containing a cock, goats butting,
and a monkey), forms the upper part of the framework to the page; the capital letters,
joining on to interlaced fillets of different colours, form the principal side; and the bottom is
composed of a rich tail-piece, where a dragon and two knights charging form principal objects
among the interlacing fillets and foliage. Even the stops contain a profusion of design ; in
one, a knight and a jester are in combat ; wit without armour being perhaps exhibited as a
full match for brute strength cased in steel : below, a blue dragon vomits forth an amazon,
armed with bow and arrow ; before whom up springs a naked imp, who insolently and
somewhat indecorously proposes a target to the fair markswoman. The last stop displays a combat of dragons : a pink dragon has
swallowed a blue dragon, whose sides, however, are unable to contain the angry tail of the swallowed opponent, which bursts through
in its struggles, whilst the head and fore feet, not yet swallowed, attack a scarlet dragon, who swallows him down to the shoulders, but
who finds his anterior portion as comfortless an inmate as the pink dragon had found the posterior extremity; for the blue head bursts
through the sides of the scarlet dragon, just as his tail had made a passage through the ribs of the pink one. In short, the
diablerie* of modern French artists, even Henri Monnier himself, must cede the palm to the wild grotesque, or rather grottesque,
of their rival of the 13th century. In some instances, the fancy of our illuminator has run riot too wildly, and become altogether
indecorous : but these instances are comparatively rare, considering at once the great number of pages thus decorated, and more especially
the gross and vitiated taste of the upper classes at that period.
It would seem, from the characteristic individuality given to some of the faces, that particular persons were indicated, or rather,
caricatured ; especially a knight with a very singular nose, and a lady in the disguise of a knight, both of whom appear very fre-
quently in these singular compositions. At the beginning of the volume is a miniature containing a family group, in which the
principal female figure and the daughter wear crowns, the male figure and his son being without them. These circumstances may assist in
the discovery of the name of the person—doubtless, some one of the highest rank—for whom this elaborate volume was executed. Some
unusual words in that portion of the volume written in old French may also probably assist to determining in what part of France the
book was executed, a point to which I shall return in the continuous sketch of the progress of the illuminator's art, which will accompany
the last Number of this work.
The Psalms are preceded by a series of elaborate miniatures, respresenting the principal events in the life of David ; opposite to each of
which, a page is dedicated to the description (in French) of the pictures. These descriptions are written in white letters, on alternate
spaces of red and blue, separated by gold lines. Similar descriptions are found also opposite to large capital letteis, of which several, similar
to the D at the head of this page, occur in the volume. The description of the subject in our D, relative to the story of Abigail, is as
follows :—" Dient comment s>ft envoie x- de ses copagnons por aucune vitaille a un riche homme de sen Linage qui faisait tondrc ses
brebis, & avait bele dame a feme & sage et avait nom Abigail, & li borgois Nabal il parla laidement a S. compagnons & dist kil ne leur
donroit nient. li dame nen sent mot. il retornent a DD. il jure kil ne li laira rien de qua kes li Borgois a."—which may be literally
rendered thus,—" representing how David sends some of his companions for provisions to a rich man of his lineage, who was shearing
his sheep, and had a beautiful and discreet lady to wife, whose name was Abigail. And the burgher Nabal spoke rude words to these com-
panions, and said he would give them nothing. The lady said not a word. They return to David (the lower compartment represents
the return), who swears that he will leave to that burgher nothing of what he has."
The second page which I have taken from this MS. is one from the calendar, and is very remarkable : the ground being an entire
mass of silver, varied with gold, blue, red, and green, gives it an air of barbaric magnificence of peculiar character ; and though the calendar
itself contains no intricacies of design, it forms, perhaps on that account, a still more striking contrast to the elaborate tracery of the
rest of the volume. The general features of the designs, in this volume, exhibit an interesting period of transition from the fine circular
style of the 12th century, to the elegant and original pointed style of art which was soon so totally to supersede it. This incipient taste
for pointed and attenuated forms is strikingly illustrated in the peculiar character of the long-tailed letters, not only of this MS., but
of most others of the period.
A PSALTER OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
IN THE POSSESSION OF R. S. HOLFORD, ESQ.
IFFERENT epochs of the art of illumination present widely different and distinct styles ; the
most showy and best known, though perhaps the least pure and inventive in design, bein"-
that of the middle and end of the 15th century ; whilst the period perhaps the least generally
known, that of the 13th century, may be considered as the most interesting and original; many
of the best works of that period displaying an astonishing variety and profusion of invention.
The MS., of which two pages form the opposite plate, may be ranked among the most
elaborate and profusely ornamented of the fine books of that era; every page being sufficient to
make the fortune of a modern decorator, by the quaint and unexpected novelties of invention
which it displays at every turn of its intricate design. One of the pages selected as specimens
fully bears out these remarks: a pale blue dragon linked to a red fox-headed dragon, that seizes
and combines itself with other intricate ornaments (the tail of the former spreading itself
into three compartments, each of which is a little picture containing a cock, goats butting,
and a monkey), forms the upper part of the framework to the page; the capital letters,
joining on to interlaced fillets of different colours, form the principal side; and the bottom is
composed of a rich tail-piece, where a dragon and two knights charging form principal objects
among the interlacing fillets and foliage. Even the stops contain a profusion of design ; in
one, a knight and a jester are in combat ; wit without armour being perhaps exhibited as a
full match for brute strength cased in steel : below, a blue dragon vomits forth an amazon,
armed with bow and arrow ; before whom up springs a naked imp, who insolently and
somewhat indecorously proposes a target to the fair markswoman. The last stop displays a combat of dragons : a pink dragon has
swallowed a blue dragon, whose sides, however, are unable to contain the angry tail of the swallowed opponent, which bursts through
in its struggles, whilst the head and fore feet, not yet swallowed, attack a scarlet dragon, who swallows him down to the shoulders, but
who finds his anterior portion as comfortless an inmate as the pink dragon had found the posterior extremity; for the blue head bursts
through the sides of the scarlet dragon, just as his tail had made a passage through the ribs of the pink one. In short, the
diablerie* of modern French artists, even Henri Monnier himself, must cede the palm to the wild grotesque, or rather grottesque,
of their rival of the 13th century. In some instances, the fancy of our illuminator has run riot too wildly, and become altogether
indecorous : but these instances are comparatively rare, considering at once the great number of pages thus decorated, and more especially
the gross and vitiated taste of the upper classes at that period.
It would seem, from the characteristic individuality given to some of the faces, that particular persons were indicated, or rather,
caricatured ; especially a knight with a very singular nose, and a lady in the disguise of a knight, both of whom appear very fre-
quently in these singular compositions. At the beginning of the volume is a miniature containing a family group, in which the
principal female figure and the daughter wear crowns, the male figure and his son being without them. These circumstances may assist in
the discovery of the name of the person—doubtless, some one of the highest rank—for whom this elaborate volume was executed. Some
unusual words in that portion of the volume written in old French may also probably assist to determining in what part of France the
book was executed, a point to which I shall return in the continuous sketch of the progress of the illuminator's art, which will accompany
the last Number of this work.
The Psalms are preceded by a series of elaborate miniatures, respresenting the principal events in the life of David ; opposite to each of
which, a page is dedicated to the description (in French) of the pictures. These descriptions are written in white letters, on alternate
spaces of red and blue, separated by gold lines. Similar descriptions are found also opposite to large capital letteis, of which several, similar
to the D at the head of this page, occur in the volume. The description of the subject in our D, relative to the story of Abigail, is as
follows :—" Dient comment s>ft envoie x- de ses copagnons por aucune vitaille a un riche homme de sen Linage qui faisait tondrc ses
brebis, & avait bele dame a feme & sage et avait nom Abigail, & li borgois Nabal il parla laidement a S. compagnons & dist kil ne leur
donroit nient. li dame nen sent mot. il retornent a DD. il jure kil ne li laira rien de qua kes li Borgois a."—which may be literally
rendered thus,—" representing how David sends some of his companions for provisions to a rich man of his lineage, who was shearing
his sheep, and had a beautiful and discreet lady to wife, whose name was Abigail. And the burgher Nabal spoke rude words to these com-
panions, and said he would give them nothing. The lady said not a word. They return to David (the lower compartment represents
the return), who swears that he will leave to that burgher nothing of what he has."
The second page which I have taken from this MS. is one from the calendar, and is very remarkable : the ground being an entire
mass of silver, varied with gold, blue, red, and green, gives it an air of barbaric magnificence of peculiar character ; and though the calendar
itself contains no intricacies of design, it forms, perhaps on that account, a still more striking contrast to the elaborate tracery of the
rest of the volume. The general features of the designs, in this volume, exhibit an interesting period of transition from the fine circular
style of the 12th century, to the elegant and original pointed style of art which was soon so totally to supersede it. This incipient taste
for pointed and attenuated forms is strikingly illustrated in the peculiar character of the long-tailed letters, not only of this MS., but
of most others of the period.