The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 15, 2025

Leaf from a Psalter and Prayerbook: Initial E with Ornamental Border Containing a Seated Satyr and a Bird Eating Grapes (recto) and Ornamental Border with Flowers and Squirrel (verso) (2 of 3 Excised Leaves)

c. 1524
(?)
ink, tempera and liquid gold on vellum
Each leaf: 16.6 x 13.5 cm (6 9/16 x 5 5/16 in.)
The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection 2006.15
Location: not on view

Description

This leaf reveals the charm of secular decoration such as satyrs or domestic activities like cooking. Such details would have been a sumptuous delight to the original owner. The original book was a highly personalized volume apparently written and illuminated in North Germany as suggested by internal textual references. The prominent inclusion of Saint Godehard (died 1038), Bishop of Hildesheim, in the calendar (not visible) would suggest that the manuscript was produced in that city.
  • 1500s
    Mansfeld Family, Prussia, between Magdeburg and Merseburg, Germany
    Mid 1500s
    Adrienne Louvignies Family
    1800s
    Compte d'Aspremont-Lynden
    -1892
    Brothers Michael Linel (1830-1892) and Albert Linel (1833-1916) of Frankfurt am Main, Germany
    1892-1953
    City of Frankfurt, Germany, for the Kunstgewerbemuseu, deaccessioned parent manuscript
    23 June 1987
    [Sale: Sotheby's, London, 23 June 1987, lot 99, sold to Pairvel]
    1987-
    Pairvel
    [Jörn Günther, Hamburg, Germany]
    [Bruce Ferrini, Akron, OH, sold to Jeanne Miles Blackburn]
    -2011
    Jeanne Miles Blackburn, Durham, NC, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2011-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Schilling, Rosy, and Georg Swarzenski. Die illuminierten Handschriften und Einzelminiaturen des Mittelalters und der Renaissance in Frankfurter Besitz. Frankfurt a.M.: J. Baer, 1929. no.151 pp.181–83
    Sotheby's (Firm). Western Manuscripts and Miniatures. 1987. Lot 99
    Jörn Günther Antiquariat (Firm), and Jörn-Uwe Günther. Recent Acquisitions: Medieval & Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts. Hamburg: Jörn Günther Antiquariat, 1997.
    Fliegel, Stephen N. The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 68, cat. no. 66 archive.org
    Chapin, Mary Weaver. “Music Chez Soi.’” In Private Lives: Home and Family in the Art of the Nabis, Paris, 1889-1900. Mary Weaver Chapin and Heather Lemonedes Brown, 142-186. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2021. Mentioned: P. 147; Reproduced: P. 148, fig. 79
    Bloomsbury Auctions (Firm). Western Manuscripts and Miniatures: Wednesday July 6, 2022 (2022). Lot 114
  • Main gallery rotation (Gallery 113): January 26, 2015 -
  • {{cite web|title=Leaf from a Psalter and Prayerbook: Initial E with Ornamental Border Containing a Seated Satyr and a Bird Eating Grapes (recto) and Ornamental Border with Flowers and Squirrel (verso) (2 of 3 Excised Leaves)|url=false|author=|year=c. 1524|access-date=15 March 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2006.15