Leaf from a Psalter and Prayerbook: Ornamental Border with Carnations, a Thistle, and a Cook Ladling Soup (verso) (c. 1524): Art, History and Details

Leaf from a Psalter and Prayerbook: Ornamental Border with Carnations, a Thistle, and a Cook Ladling Soup (verso) (c. 1524) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This leaf and others from the collection were excised from the same prayer book. They reveal 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.

Object facts

• Title: Leaf from a Psalter and Prayerbook: Ornamental Border with Carnations, a Thistle, and a Cook Ladling Soup (verso)
• Date: c. 1524
• Culture: Germany, Hildesheim(?), 16th century
• Type: Manuscript
• Technique: ink, tempera and liquid gold on vellum
• Dimensions: Each leaf: 16.6 x 13.5 cm (6 9/16 x 5 5/16 in.)
• Collection: MED - Manuscript Illuminations
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1999.136.b

Collection credit

The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Fliegel, Stephen N. The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.