Rothschild canticles
Found In:
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library > Rothschild canticles
2002755
Description
- Title
- Rothschild canticles
- Published / Created
- [ca. 1300]
- Publication Place
- Flanders or the Rhineland
- Abstract
-
Manuscript on parchment (uneven quality, severely trimmed) of a Florilegium comprised of a series of meditations and prayers. The text, apparently a unicum, is a cento of biblical, liturgical, and patristic citations, with some additional material spuriously attributed to St. Bernard. The most important sources are the Song of Songs, the other Wisdom books, the Prophets, and, in the Trinitarian section, Augustine's De Trinitate
- Description
-
In Latin.
Script: Written by three scribes. Art. 19 (ff. 189r-190r) written by Scribe 3 in an informal gothic bookhand, no later than ca. 1300. Scribes 1 and 2 collaborated on the rest of the manuscript: arts. 1, 3-5, 6 (ff. 124r-125r), 9-18 written by Scribe 1 in a neat, but somewhat irregular gothic bookhand, arts. 2, 6 (ff. 125v-132r), 7-8 written by Scribe 2 in an undisciplined gothic bookhand.
The manuscript is outstanding for the quality and complexity of its program of illustration. In its original state it included at least fifty full-page miniatures, of which forty-six survive, one-hundred-and-sixty smaller miniatures, and forty-one historiated initials. Twenty-three tinted drawings were added on blank and added folios at a later date (between 1300 and 1350). The decoration is the work of at least three artists. The miniatures, initials, and marginal decoration are the work of two hands, one of whom contributed only two full-page miniatures (ff. 61r and 64r) that depend on the style usually associated with the name of Master Honore. The other, predominant hand works in a flatter, more linear style associated with Northeastern France. Full-page miniatures, in art. 1 only, some divided into two or three registers, in blue or orange frames, surrounded by a narrow gold band, with orange lozenges at the corners, each with an ivy spray, in black ink with five gold leaves; predominantly blue or vermilion tesselated or tooled gold grounds; two (ff. 25r and 55r) with fleurs-de-lis in lozenges. On each text page in art. 1 there is a smaller miniature, 9- to 5-line, with a witness who gesticulates towards the full-page miniature on the facing page; each miniature in a blue and/or pink frame with gold squares in the corners. Almost every folio in arts. 2-18 with at least one small miniature 10- to 5-line, framed as above. Arts. 11 and 14 illustrated almost exclusively with historiated initials, 6- to 4-line, blue, pink and/or orange against grounds of the same colors, with short ivy branches extending from the serifs, many with grotesque terminals.
Illuminated initials, 2- to 1- line, in art. 1 only, gold against irregular blue or pink grounds, with white filigree, edged in black, some of the 2-line initials with ivy borders, as above. The borders, especially in arts. 2-18, are populated with grotesques and other marginal illustrations, the majority apparently non-narrative and without reference to the adjacent texts and miniatures, in the same style as the miniatures by the predominant hand. Names of Hebrew letters in art. 12 in red.
Lower outer corners cut from ff. 167-192. Marginal decoration on many folios severely trimmed. Gold has flaked off considerably from the full-page miniatures on ff. 13r, 15r, 19r; some flaking of gold on ff. 6v, 18v, 25r, 34r, 44r, 51r.
Binding: ca. 1966. Bound in two volumes (I: ff. 1-96; II: ff. 97-192) in native tanned vermilion Nigerian goatskin, by J. Greenfield, without any adhesive touching the bookblock itself. Previously bound in brown leather in a single volume. - Provenance
- Bernard Quaritch, London. Collection of Edmond de Rothschild, MS 98. Acquired from H. P. Kraus in 1968 as the gift of Edwin J. Beinecke.
- Extent
- ff. iii + 192 : 118 x 84 mm.
- Extent of Digitization
- This object has been completely digitized.
- Language
-
Latin
Collection Information
- Repository
- Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
- Call Number
- Beinecke MS 404
- Related Resource Online
- View a detailed description.
- Container / Volume
- 1
Subjects, Formats, And Genres
- Genre
-
Prayers and devotions
Manuscripts, Medieval Flanders (Belgium) 14th century
Manuscripts, Medieval Rhineland (Germany) 14th century
Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library - Material
- parchment ;
- Resource Type
- unspecified
- Subject (Geographic)
-
Connecticut
New Haven. - Subject (Name)
- Catholic Church
- Subject (Topic)
-
Devotional literature, Latin (Medieval and modern).
Exempla
Fathers of the church
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscripts, Medieval - Subjects
-
Catholic Church > Prayers and devotions
Glossa ordinaria
Devotional literature, Latin (Medieval and modern).
Exempla
Fathers of the church
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscripts, Medieval > Connecticut > New Haven
Flanders (Belgium) > 14th century
Rhineland (Germany) > 14th century
Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Access And Usage Rights
- Access
- Public
- Rights
- The use of this image may be subject to the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) or to site license or other rights management terms and conditions. The person using the image is liable for any infringement.
- Citation
- Rothschild Canticles. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Identifiers
- Orbis Record
- 9731733
- Object ID (OID)
- 2002755
Manifest Link
