Leaf from a lavishly illuminated Psalter, in Latin, manuscript on vellum, single leaf, with single column of 21 lines in an elegant formal gothic bookhand, line-fillers in floral and geometric bands of red, blue or gold, one-line initials in blue or liquid gold, one large illuminated initial ‘D’ (opening “Deus laudem meam ne …”, Psalm 108 in the Vulgate), enclosing and enclosed within elaborate blue and red penwork that reaches out to the full length of the internal vertical margin, slight grain pattern, slight chipping to gold in places, else outstanding condition, 233 by 167mm, [northern England, c. 1260-70].

⁂ Provenance:
1. The parent manuscript was owned by Bruce Ferrini (1949-2010), and offered by him and Les Enluminures in their Important Illuminated Manuscripts (2000), no. 14, at $1,000,000 (described there as from northern France, and the last part of the reign of Philip August, i.e. c. 1200-1210). When it went unsold, Ferrini began to sell individual leaves (with leaves in a private collection by July 2002). In 2016, the work was reattributed to northern England (see Sotheby’s, 5 July 2016, lot 5), noting that the closest parallels in Psalters from northern England such as the Evesham, Oscott, York, and Rutland Psalters, all dating to c. 1250-c. 1270.

2. The cataloguing of 2000 recorded that there was an inscription on its first flyleaf, reading ‘Ex-libris de Maître avocat Aubéry[?] procureur-general, 1828’.