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Cotton MS Vespasian A I/1

Record Id:

040-003434152

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

032-001101582

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100071126287.0x000001

LARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100165160739.0x000001

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Cotton MS Vespasian A I/1

Title:

Leaf from a Psalter

Scope & Content:

This leaf from a Psalter was inserted into Cotton MS Vespasian A I, probably during the 17th century when they were owned by Sir Robert Cotton. It is now mounted and kept separately.

Decoration:

f. 1r: a full-page framed miniature in colours on a gold ground, depicting Christ in Majesty with the four Evangelist symbols holding scrolls.

f. 1v: a full-page framed foliate initial 'B'(eatus vir, Psalm 1) in gold and colours, inhabited by nude figures and animals. In the stem of the initial, David is depicted seated with his harp. At the corners of the frame, four roundels enclose figures personifying Ecclesia and Synagogia (Church and Synagogue) (at the top), and Saints Peter and Paul (at the bottom). At the left and right sides of the frame, two half-roundels enclose standing prophets holding scrolls. At the upper and lower sides of the frame, two half-mandorlas enclose the figure of Christ holding a book (at the top) and Christ of the Resurrection stepping out of the tomb (at the bottom).

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Cotton Collection

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-001101582
040-003434152

Is part of:

Cotton MS : Cotton Manuscripts

Cotton MS Vespasian A I/1 : Leaf from a Psalter

Hierarchy:

032-001101582[1387]/040-003434152

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Cotton MS

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

A parchment leaf

Digitised Content:

https://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100165160739.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)

Thumbnail:

Languages:

Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1215

End Date:

1225

Date Range:

c 1220

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to consult this manuscript.

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 230 x 170 mm.

Foliation: f. 1.

Binding: Post-1600. Kept in a loose cardboard cover, in an archival box covered with blue linen and blue leather.

Custodial History:

Origin: England (? Peterborough).

Provenance:

Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (b. 1571, d. 1631), 1st baronet, antiquary and politician: inserted the leaf into Cotton MS Vespasian A I.

Cotton's collection was augmented by his son, Sir Thomas Cotton (b. 1594, d. 1662), 2nd baronet, and his grandson, Sir John Cotton.

Sir John Cotton (b. 1621, d. 1702), 3rd baronet: bequeathed the entire Cotton collection of books and manuscripts to trustees 'for Publick Use and Advantage', 12 and 13 William III, c. 7. Formed one of the foundation collections of the British Museum in 1753.

Publications:

A. Haseloff, 'La Miniature dans les Pays Cisalpins depuis le Commencement du XIIe jusqu'au Milieu de XIVe Siècle', in Histoire de l'Art: Depuis les Premiers Temps Chrétiens jusqu'à nos Jours, ed. by A. Michel, 8 vols (Paris: A. Colin, 1905-29), II, part 1 (1906), p. 346.

Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, 5 vols (London: British Museum, 1907-65), III (1908), pl. 15.

Andreas Lindblom, La Peinture Gothiqueen Suède et Norvège: Étude sur les Relations entre l'Europe Occidentale et les Pays Scandinaves (Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand, 1916), pp. 125-26.

E.G. Millar, English Illuminated Manuscripts from the Xth to the XIIIth century (Brussels: G. van Oest, 1926), pp. 48, 120.

O. Elfrida Saunders, English Illumination, 2 vols (Florence: Pantheon, [1928]), I, p. 60.

L. Edwards, 'Some English Examples of the Medieval Representation of Church and Synogogue', Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England, 18 (1958), 63-75 (p. 74).

Margaret Rickert, Painting in Britain: The Middle Ages, 2nd edn (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1965), p. 101.

D.H. Turner, Early Gothic Illuminated Manuscripts in England (London: British Museum, 1965), p. 10, pl. 1.

D.H. Turner, Illuminated Manuscripts Exhibited in the Grenville Library (London: British Museum, 1967), no. 13.

P. Brieger, English Art, 1216-1307, Oxford History of English Art, 4, 2nd edn (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968), p. 83.

The Vespasian Psalter: British Museum, Cotton Vespasian A.I, ed. by David H. Wright, with a contribution on the gloss by Alistair Campbell, Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile, 14 (Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1967), p. 34 [facsimile].

Nigel J. Morgan, Early Gothic Manuscripts, 1190-1285, Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 4, 2 vols (London: Harvey Miller, 1982), I: 1190-1250, no. 46, pp. 17, 27, 93-95, fig. 3, ills 150, 154.

Michelle P. Brown, 'Sir Robert Cotton, collector and connoisseur?', in Illuminating the Book: Makers and Interpreters: Essays in Honour of Janet Backhouse, ed. by Michelle P. Brown and Scot McKendrick (London: British Library, 1998), pp. 281-98 (p. 287).

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)