Walters Ms. W.834, Prayer book

W.834

Prayer book

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.

Dated 1475 CE

Netherlands, Delft (?)

Book

Devotional

The primary language in this manuscript is Dutch; Flemish.

Parchment

Thick parchment finely finished, well surfaced on both sides

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

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:

11.0 cm wide by 16.1 cm high

69.0 cm wide by 11.7 cm high

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

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

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

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

1. Title: Prayers on the wounds of Christ

1. Title: Prayers on the Holy Sacrament

1. Title: On the Examination of Conscience

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

1. Title: Seven Penitential Psalms

1. Title: Litanies

1. Title: Prayers for the souls

1. Title: Prayer of Offering to God the Father and Holy Sacrament

1. Title: Prayer for the soul

1. Title: Clock of Eternal Wisdom

1. Title: Prayers

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

fol. 2v:

1. 
2. Title: Mystical clock
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Prayer book

fol. 3r:

1. 
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."

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

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

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

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

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.

The Walters Art Museum

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.