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Source Description
The song "Ring-around-a-Rosy" is still popular today, often danced in a circle just as we see the monkeys doing here. Yet this seemingly lighthearted song has a dark past. The plague swept Europe during the 14th century, and the song's words actually refer to its terrible symptoms: a circular rose-colored rash, sneezing or coughing, and finally, death. Flower petals were worn in a pouch around the neck to keep the smell of death away. The song, then, seems very different in this context.Ring-a ring-o-rosiesA pocket full of posiesAchoo, Achoo,We all fall down.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
81316
label
Leaf from Psalter-Hours: Apes Dancing to Ring-around-a-Rosy
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
81316
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Leaf from Psalter-Hours: Apes Dancing to Ring-around-a-Rosy
description
The song "Ring-around-a-Rosy" is still popular today, often danced in a circle just as we see the monkeys doing here. Yet this seemingly lighthearted song has a dark past. The plague swept Europe during the 14th century, and the song's words actually refer to its terrible symptoms: a circular rose-colored rash, sneezing or coughing, and finally, death. Flower petals were worn in a pouch around the neck to keep the smell of death away. The song, then, seems very different in this context.Ring-a ring-o-rosiesA pocket full of posiesAchoo, Achoo,We all fall down.
provenance
Jacques Mauze (?), 15th century [1]. Ex libris Crouzon, 17th or 18th century [2]. G. E. Street, 19th century [3]. Léon Gruel, Paris, late 19th-early 20th century [4]; purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore, early 20th century; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.[1] inscriptions on fols. 167r and 213v (the latter now erased)[2] inscription on 1r[3] inscription on 1r[4] No. 46 on 1r
date
ca. 1315-1325 (Gothic)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
illuminated manuscripts
folios (leaves)
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
16.2
height
11.1
dimensionsRaw
H: 6 3/8 × W: 4 3/8 in. (16.2 × 11.1 cm)
Source extras
med
ink and pigments on parchment
creator_ids
6505
collection_ids
MSS
MED
exhibition_ids
2829
2289
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
ec5e254367467dee