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Walters Ms. W.834, Prayer book

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Shelf mark

W.834


Manuscript

Prayer book


Text title
Prayer book

Abstract

This prayer book was written in Dutch ca. 1475. It is notable for its full-page miniature introducing the prayers, which represents a clock containing the crown of thorns, centered between the names of Christ and the Virgin in gold and blue. Reference to the mystical meaning of the clock is found in the manuscript, which contains Henry Suso's text of the clock of the eternal wisdom.


Date

Dated 1475 CE


Origin

Netherlands, Delft (?)


Form

Book


Genre

Devotional


Language:

The primary language in this manuscript is Dutch; Flemish.


Support material

Parchment

Thick parchment finely finished, well surfaced on both sides


Extent

Foliation: ii+202+ii

Modern pencil foliation; not all leaves have been foliated, with foliation sometimes continuous, sometimes alternating pages; fol. 127 is double foliated, resulting in the second being labeled 127a


Collation

Formula: ii, 1(3), 2-6(8), 7(10), 8-13(8), 14(6), 15-26(8), ii

Catchwords: On the versos, bottom right corner; they are not consistent throughout the manuscript

Signatures: Modern quire numeration; in pencil, on the versos of the last folio of the quire, bottom right corner

Comments:


Dimensions

11.0 cm wide by 16.1 cm high


Written surface

69.0 cm wide by 11.7 cm high


Layout
  1. Columns: 1
  2. Ruled lines: 23
  3. Ruled in brown ink

Contents:
fols. 2v - 201r:
  1. Title: Prayer book
  2. Decoration note: One full-page miniature facing folio with decorated border with Christ and the instruments of the Passion; initials with blue and red penwork designs on the external margin mark major divisions of the text (3 to 5 lines); capital letters in blue or red for minor divisions (2 to 4 lines); rubrics in red, text in black ink
fols. 2v - 2v:
  1. Title: Prefatory image
  2. Decoration note: Full-page illumination of a clock incorporating a wreath in the center; a border of scrolling flowers and leaves punctuated with golden bezants frames the page, with imagery including an angel, a peacock, an ostrich, and a pelican feeding its young
fols. 3r - 9r:
  1. Title: Prayer of St. Bernard
  2. Decoration note: Decorated initial "G," fol. 3r; figure of Christ with the instruments of the Passion in the right margin
fols. 9v - 25r:
  1. Title: Prayers on the wounds of Christ
fols. 25v - 35r:
  1. Title: Prayers on the Holy Sacrament
fols. 35r - 42v:
  1. Title: On the Examination of Conscience
fols. 42v - 76v:
  1. Title: Prayers to the Virgin
  2. Contents: Fols. 42v-47r: Prayers to Mary; fols. 47r-50v: Prayer of St. Bernard on the Five Joys of the Virgin; fols. 50v-54v: Benedictions; fols. 54v-56v: Prayer of St. Bernard to the Virgin; fols. 56v-60v: O Intemerata; fols. 60v-76v: On the Birth of Mary
fols. 77r - 86r:
  1. Title: Seven Penitential Psalms
fols. 86r - 96v:
  1. Title: Litanies
fols. 96v - 106v:
  1. Title: Prayers for the souls
fols. 107r - 115v:
  1. Title: Prayer of Offering to God the Father and Holy Sacrament
fols. 115v - 126r:
  1. Title: Prayer for the soul
fols. 126r - 139v:
  1. Title: Clock of Eternal Wisdom
fols. 139v - 155v:
  1. Title: Prayers
fols. 156r - 201r:
  1. Title: Gospels lections on the Passion of Christ
  2. Contents: Fols. 155v-164v: Matthew; fols. 164v-172r: Mark; fols. 172r-179r: Luke; fols. 179v-201r: John

Decoration:

fol. 2v:

  1. W.834, fol. 2v
  2. Title: Mystical clock
  3. Form: Full-page miniature
  4. Text: Prayer book

fol. 3r:

  1. W.834, fol. 3r
  2. Title: Christ with the Instruments of the Passion
  3. Form: Historiated margin
  4. Text: Prayer book: Prayer of St. Bernard
  5. Comment:

    The inscription around Christ reads: "OMNES DRACHT ALTYT IUDYN LIERT MYN BITTER LYN DEUM EUM SIVART."


Binding

The binding is not original.

Nineteenth-century binding; brown calfskin over wooden boards; sewn on four slit-towed straps; front and back covers tooled in blind; double frame with four leaves tooled in blind at the corners; four panels on the spine decorated with four leaves tooled in blind


Provenance

Aert de Cort and Elizabeth de Cort, sixteenth-century (inscription on fol. 1v)

Adolfo E. Schramm, nineteenth century (his bookplate on upper board pastedown)


Acquisition

Museum purchase, the W. Alton Jones Foundation Acquisition Fund, 1994


Contributors

Catalogers: Dutschke, Consuelo; Valle, Chiara; Walters Art Museum curatorial staff and researchers since 1934

Editor: Herbert, Lynley

Copy editor: Dibble, Charles

Conservators: Owen, Linda; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Bockrath, Diane; Boot, Christine; Emery, Doug; Noel, William; Pizzinato, Riccardo; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.


Publisher

The Walters Art Museum


License

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.