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IM-716:  (165x135mm) Original leaf from a richly illuminated manuscript Psalter - Prayer-book. 23 lines of Latin text. Written in unusual gothic cursive script on animal vellum.

North Germany, (Hildesheim?) c. 1524.

Two three-line illuminated initials in silver on blue-gray ground with silver tracery. Elaborate panel borders with full gold ground, strewn with diverse floral motifs, plus putto, with red and golden wings, dancing in the lower right corner, and (verso) a burgher, in fine attire, wearing a blue hat and carrying a musical instrument in his right hand, and a large cup in his left.

This highly personalized prayer-book was written and illuminated in Germany, as evidenced by the painted Arms of Mansfeld (a prominent North German family) on a leaf, and the inclusion of St. Godehard (d. 1038), bishop of Hildesheim, portrayed as a miniature on another leaf. The date 1524 occurs in two locations in the prayer-book.

For sister leaves see The Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations, The Cleveland Museum of Art, # 65, 66, 67).