Leaf from a Psalter: Initial D: David in Prayer before an Altar and Christ in a Cloud (2 of 2 Excised Leaves)

Description

An impressive eight-line initial represents a kneeling David praying before an altar amid stylized topiaries and set against a burnished gold ground. The text introduces Psalm 101: Domine exaudi orationem meam (Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my crying come unto thee). Facial types for the figures are rather coarse, with hard lines and sharp expressions and very schematic drawing of the hair and poses are rigid and angular. Hard drapery patterns emphasize the triangular folds and the marginal outgrowth of the initial D terminates as a standing bird. Stylistically, these leaves relate to English work of about 1275–1300, possibly from the vicinity of Oxford.

Provenance

[Sotheby's, London, 25 April 1983, lot 69]; [Bruce Ferrini, Akron]

Leaf from a Psalter: Initial D: David in Prayer before an Altar and Christ in a Cloud (2 of 2 Excised Leaves)

[]

c. 1270–1280

Accession Number

2006.8

Medium

ink, tempera and gold on vellum

Dimensions

Each leaf: 17.9 x 13.5 cm (7 1/16 x 5 5/16 in.)

Classification

Manuscript

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection