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

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

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

c. 1270–80
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England, Oxford

(?)
Medium
ink, tempera and gold on vellum
Measurements
Each leaf: 17.9 x 13.5 cm (7 1/16 x 5 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection 2006.8
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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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.
A vertically oriented ink and tempera painting on vellum depicts a manuscript leaf with black Latin text. Inside a large illuminated letter D, David, a man with light skin tone wearing a crown and blue robe, prays before an altar. Above him, Christ with light skin tone emerges from a cloud. To our left, a long-necked bird stands in the margin. Small blue and red initials punctuate the surrounding text.

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

c. 1270–80

England, Oxford(?)

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