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IM-864:  (165x135mm) Original leaf from a richly illuminated manuscript Psalter - Prayer-book. 19-21 lines of Latin text. Written in unusual gothic cursive script on animal vellum. (For sister leaves see The Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations, The Cleveland Museum of Art).

North Germany, (Hildesheim?) c. 1524.

Four three-line illuminated initials in gold or silver on blue, red or rust ground with gold or silver tracery. Sixteen one-line illuminated initials in gold or silver on blue, red or rust ground. Elaborate panel borders with full gold ground, strewn with diverse floral motifs (including a strawberry � symbol of perfect righteousness) � plus putto holding a bouquet of flowers, and a bird (young European roller) balancing on the stem of a flower.

The illuminated ''I'' begins: ''Inclina...'' (Incline thy ear, O Lord, and hear me...)

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.