Accession number
MS M.1259
Object title
Altar card (MS M.1259).
Created
Southern Germany? ca. late 16th century.
Binding
Contemporaneous brown leather stamped with centerpieces incorporating Jesuit symbols.
Credit line
Purchased as the gift of Virginia M. Schirrmeister on the occasion of the Morgan's Centennial, 2025.
Description
1 leaf (3 columns, 58 lines) on a folding triptych : vellum, ill. ; 250 x 140 mm (closed); 250 x 395 (opened)
Provenance
London, Quaritch, New York, 65th New York International Antiquarian Book Fair, Stand C3, Park Avenue Armory, 3-6 April 2025, no. 2.
Notes
Ms. altar card, a folding triptych made from a single vellum sheet, Southern Germany [?] ca. late 16th century. Altar cards were memory aids to assist the celebrant at Mass. Propped against the back of the altar, the cards contained important prayers said by the priest. This example is smaller than usual, enhancing its portability.
Title from Quaritch catalogue.
Texts: Left: prayers for the living, "Memoria vivorum memento". Center: text of the consecration: "Que pridie q[ua]m pateret[ur] ..." Right: prayers for the dead, "Memoria mortuorum memorio".
Decoration: One miniature of the Crucifixion.
The triptych joins Morgan MS M.1147, one panel of a manuscript altar card from sixteenth-century France, plus two altar cards in the department of printed books and bindings.
Title from Quaritch catalogue.
Texts: Left: prayers for the living, "Memoria vivorum memento". Center: text of the consecration: "Que pridie q[ua]m pateret[ur] ..." Right: prayers for the dead, "Memoria mortuorum memorio".
Decoration: One miniature of the Crucifixion.
The triptych joins Morgan MS M.1147, one panel of a manuscript altar card from sixteenth-century France, plus two altar cards in the department of printed books and bindings.
Script
textura
Language
Latin
Century
Catalog link
Classification
Department