The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 10, 2023

Leaf from a Psalter and Prayerbook: Initial E with Ornamental Border Containing a Seated Satyr and a Bird Eating Grapes (recto)

c. 1524

Part of a set. See all set records

This object has related works. See Leaf from a Psalter and Prayerbook: Calendar Page with Labors (recto) and Calendar Page with Peasant (verso); Leaf from a Psalter and Prayerbook: Ornamental Border with Pea Vines and a Girl Kneading Bread (recto) and Ornamental Boarder with Carnations, a Thistle, and a Cook Ladling Soup (verso) (1 of 3 Excised Leaves)

North Germany, Hildesheim (?), 16th century

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.a

Location

not on view

Description

This leaf and the one nearby were excised from the same prayer book that contained ornamental borders on nearly every page. They represent the intricate decoration found throughout the parent volume, its leaves now dispersed. Virtually every border, recto and verso, or front and back, was decorated with liquid gold and highlighted with a variety of flowers, fruits, vegetables, and animals; here a bird eats grapes while seated below is a satyr, or half goat and half man.

Provenance
Arms of Mansfeld (16th century), Prussia, between Magdeburg and Merseburg; Compte d'Aspremont-Lynden (19th century); [Sotheby's, London, 23 June 1987, lot 99]; [Jörn Günther, Hamburg]; [Bruce Ferrini, Akron]
Citations
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
Exhibition history

CMA, 19 December 1999 - 27 February 2000, The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations, cat. 66, illus. p. 68.

Main gallery rotation (Gallery 113): January 26, 2015 -

The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 19, 1999-February 27, 2000).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2006.15.a