⁂ Please note, the description of this lot has changed ⁂

Psalter, Use of Liège, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum, 117 leaves (plus 2 modern paper endleaves at front and back), wanting the Beatus initial leaf from opening of main text, another single leaf from the fifth quire and some quires from the end: now ending abruptly midway through the Litany, else complete, collation: i⁶, ii-iv⁸, v⁷ (that originally the second leaf in quire removed), vi-xv⁸, text in single column of 23 lines of a good early gothic bookhand, one-line initials in red or blue, 2-line initials in gold on blue and pink grounds heightened with white penwork, twelve calendar illustrations of the occupations of the months (each of a human figure in burnished gold robes), ten large historiated initials in blue or pink with central scenes on burnished gold grounds, the whole within a gold frame and with coloured foliate extensions on thick gold grounds extending into the borders on up to three sides, a few leaves with ink flaking away and smudged, a few smudges to initials, leaves at each end slightly cockled, a few spots and stains, else in good condition, 169 x 120mm., bound by Budden of Cambridge in 19th-century red morocco over bevelled boards, each board tooled in rows of foliate designs and spine with six compartments with a single flowerbud, gilt edge and gauffered, 8vo, Southern Netherlands (Liège), [c.1270].

⁂ The sequence of gold-clad figures in the Calendar and glittering historiated initials here set this apart as one of the most visually arresting Psalters to be produced in Liège in the 13th century. The atelier that produced this manuscript has been identified by Judith Oliver, and named after its principal production: a Psalter now Paris, BnF., Latin 1077. The artists who collaborated in this atelier appear to have been responsible for the importing of the French Gothic style into the Meuse valley. The historiated initials here are especially influenced by the French Gothic style, with tall and elegant figures with delicate expressive faces framed by thick hair, highly placed mouths often in smiles, and clothing edged with a thin white line. The so-called 'third hand' of the Paris Psalter was responsible for the figure painting in the present volume, and in addition notable links exist between the Calendar miniatures here and those in another Psalter from the same atelier: Princeton Art Museum, MS. 57-189, with single figures also in burnished gold robes standing on wavy lines. However, the quality of the work here is finer than that of the Princeton manuscript.

The Calendar miniatures comprise: (1) fol. 1r, feasting beside the fire; (2) fol. 1v, pruning a tree; (3) fol. 2r, digging; (4) fol. 2v, a standing youth; (5) fol. 3r, youth by a tree playing a viol; (6) fol. 3v, man with a basket harvesting; (7) fol. 4r, cutting hay with a scythe; (8) fol. 4v, harvesting wheat with a sickle; (9) fol. 5r, treading grapes in a tub; (10) fol. 5v, sowing seeds; (11) fol. 12r, carrying a hog; (12) fol. 6v, slaughtering an ox. The historiated initials comprise: (i) fol. 7r, David harping; (ii) fol. 22v, Christ healing a blind man; (iii) fol. 40v, an execution; (iv), fol. 41r, King David and the fool; (v) fol. 51r, Christ above Jonah and the whale; (vi) fol. 63v, David playing the bells; (vii) fol. 74v, two monks singing; (viii) King David in prayer; (ix) fol. Christ in majesty; (x) fol. 111r, Doubting Thomas.

Comparative manuscripts are published as J.H. Oliver, Gothic manuscript illumination in the diocese of Liège, 1988, pp. 148-58, ill. 12, 52, 105 and 110.

Provenance: (1) written and illuminated for a wealthy patron in the vicinity of Liège: the Calendar has SS. Domitian, Servatius and Remaclus, bishops of Tongres and Maastricht in the diocese of Liège, as well as Theodardus, Hubert and Lambert (this last saint with three feasts noted), all bishops of Liège; (2) John Gilchrist Clark (1830-82) of Speddoch, Dumfries (and with a note on this manuscript with information from Francis Wormald on Speddoch notepaper included in volume), who married a daughter of William Henry Fox Talbot, the early photographer (and an albumen print of Gilchrist Clark by Camille Silvy, dated 1862, survives in the National Portrait Gallery): his ex libris dated 1851 on first modern endleaf. He also owned a French Book of Hours last appearing on the market in Swann Galleries' sale on 7 March 2019, lot 167; (3) Christie's, 29 November 2000, lot 8, evidently consigned by Gilchrist Clark's descendants, where it sold for £80,750.