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Source Description
This English manuscript was made in East Anglia in the mid-thirteenth century for a patron with special veneration for St. Olaf, whose life and martyrdom are prominently portrayed in the Beatus initial of Psalm 1. Known as the "Carrow Psalter" due to its later use by the nunnery of Carrow near Norwich, it is more accurately described as a psalter-hours, as it contains, among other texts, the Office of the Dead and the Hours of the Virgin. The manuscript is striking for its rich variety of illuminations, including full-page cycles of saints, martyrs, and biblical scenes, as well as historiated initials within the Psalter, and heraldry added in the fifteenth century to undecorated initials in the Hours of the Virgin. Especially notable is the miniature portraying the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket, for after Henry VIII found him guilty of treason in 1538, his image was concealed by gluing a page over it rather than destroying it, and it has since been rediscovered.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
2767
label
Carrow Psalter
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
2767
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Carrow Psalter
description
This English manuscript was made in East Anglia in the mid-thirteenth century for a patron with special veneration for St. Olaf, whose life and martyrdom are prominently portrayed in the Beatus initial of Psalm 1. Known as the "Carrow Psalter" due to its later use by the nunnery of Carrow near Norwich, it is more accurately described as a psalter-hours, as it contains, among other texts, the Office of the Dead and the Hours of the Virgin. The manuscript is striking for its rich variety of illuminations, including full-page cycles of saints, martyrs, and biblical scenes, as well as historiated initials within the Psalter, and heraldry added in the fifteenth century to undecorated initials in the Hours of the Virgin. Especially notable is the miniature portraying the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket, for after Henry VIII found him guilty of treason in 1538, his image was concealed by gluing a page over it rather than destroying it, and it has since been rediscovered.
provenance
Made in East Anglia, England, mid-13th century; Carrow Priory, Norwich, 15th century [recorded in a 14th or 15th century inscription on fol. 1r]; John Baptist, 3rd Lord Caryll (1716-1780) [his bookplate recorded in 1902, but is no longer extant] [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; George Galway Mills, before 1800 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Mills Sale, London, February 24, 1800; Reverend David T. Powell, first half 19th century [mode of acquisition unknown]; Powell Sale, London, July 31, 1848; 4th Earl of Ashburnham (1797-1878) [Appendix no. XXXIII, his bookplate] [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Yates Thompson, 1897 [his bookplate] [mode of acquisition unknown]; Yates Thompson Sale, Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge, 23 March 1920, [no. 34]; Quaritch, 1920, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1920, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
ca. 1250 (Medieval)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
illuminated manuscripts
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
24.8
height
17.8
dimensionsRaw
H: 9 3/4 x W: 7 in. (24.8 x 17.8 cm)
Source extras
style
Gothic
inscriptions
[Inscription] On spine: Psalter of the Monastery of Carehow near Norwich circa A.D. 1245
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med
ink and pigments on medium-weight cream-colored parchment bound between boards covered with vellum
creator_ids
6197
collection_ids
MSS
MED
exhibition_ids
2825
2387
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105
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Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
8a581debfd91ebb9