Psalter

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Accession number: 
MS M.521
Title: 
Psalter
Created: 
Canterbury, England, 1155-1160.
Binding: 
Previously in English 19th-century folio brown levant morocco with gilt panels and cream moiré doublures; now matted.
Credit: 
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), 1911.
Description: 
1 leaf, matted : vellum, ill. ; 400 x 290 mm
Provenance: 
Owned (as part of the Canterbury psalter) by Christ Church at Canterbury at least until mid-sixteenth century; presented by Richard Arkinstall to Cambridge University in 1584; the prefatory cycle of biblical narratives (including M.521 and M.724) were probably excised between 1584 and circa 1597 to 1615 when the psalter was given to Trinity College by Thomas Nevile; owned in 1838 by William Young Ottley; his sale (London, Sotheby's, May 12, 1838, lot 133) to Payne and Foss; William and Thomas Bateman sale (London, Sotheby's, May 29, 1893, (fourth day's sale, lot 1152) to Quaritch; purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) from Joseph Martini in 1911; J.P. Morgan (1867-1943).
Notes: 

Ms. psalter single leaf, illuminated at Christ Church Priory (Canterbury, England) between 1155 and 1160.
Part of the Canterbury psalter (the Eadwine psalter); most of the psalter is held by Trinity College, Cambridge University. MS R.17.1.
Pierpont Morgan Library. MS M.724; British Library. MS Add. 37472; and Victoria and Albert Museum. MS 661 are other leaves from this psalter.
Decoration: 2 full-page illuminations (recto and verso) comprising 24 compartments, each with two or more scenes.

Century: 

This leaf, MS M. 724, and six other prefatory leaves were probably removed between 1584, when Richard Arkinstall gave the Psalter to Cambridge University, and its rebinding before Thomas Nevile (d. 1615) gave it to Trinity College, where it is today. The leaves may have been regarded as extraneous to the five different Psalter versions in the book. Four leaves were later acquired by William Young Ottley (1771–1836) and were in his sale at Sotheby's on 12 May 1838, lots 130–33. This leaf was lot 133. When Pierpont Morgan purchased it from Joseph Martini in 1911, it was bound in English nineteenth-century brown levant morocco with gilt panels. It was subsequently rebound with the second Morgan leaf by Marguerite Duprez-Lahey around 1927. Both leaves were subsequently disbound and matted.

This leaf isvdensely illustrated; twelve square compartments each contain two scenes depicting the life of Christ or parables.
Row 1: Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins; Parable of the Ten Talents; Zaccheus in the Tree; Feasting with Christ and the Apostles
Row 2: Simon the Leper Preparing for Christ, Mary Magdalene Anointing the Feet of Christ; Christ and the Samaritan Women at the Well; Christ Entering the Samaritan Town; Christ in the House of Mary and Martha; Christ in the House of Simon the Leper, Where a Woman (Mary Magdalene) Anoints His Head
Row 3: Mary and Martha Plead with Christ to Help Lazarus; Raising of Lazarus; Christ's Entry into Jerusalem; Judas Receiving the Pieces of Silver
Row 4: Preparation for and the Last Supper; Christ Washing the Feet of the Apostles, Christ's Agony in the Garden; Betrayal of Christ