Collection ID: 0031 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Liturgical psalter and perpetual calendar

Other related names

• Yovanēs, artist
• Simēon, former owner
• Davrižec'i, Bart'ułimēos, former owner
• Holy See of Ējmiatsin, former owner
• Collins, Philip S., 1864-1943, former owner

Funders

• Council on Library and Information Resources

Call number

1945‑65‑20
(Philadelphia, United States, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, Philip S. Collins Collection)

Publisher

Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs

Language

Armenian

Origin

Place

Armenia

Summary

This manuscript is a liturgical psalter and perpetual calendar for the Armenian church. Psalms 1-147 are divided into eight canons, each of which is divided into seven sections. Canticles from the Old Testament follow each canon. Psalms 148-150 are followed by the canticle of the Three Hebrew Children, the three New Testament canticles, Psalm 151, the prayer of Manasseh, and the prayer composed by Saint Nersēs Shnorhali (the Graceful) for the twenty-four hours of the day. The manuscript includes ten full-page illuminations of Biblical figures and illuminated headpieces at the beginning of the eight canons of the the Psalter. The perpetual calendar at the end of the volume is presented with tables of the quincentenary cycle, explanatory notes, and dates of the feasts celebrated by the Armenian church. The scribe and illuminator may be the Yovanēs who is named in an internal colophon (p. 281).

Extent

Ii+253; 110 x 78 mm bound to 117 x 87 mm

Foliation

Modern pagination in pencil, upper right recto

Collation

1 (13, +3), 2 (13, +8), 3 (12), 4 (13, +6), 5-7 (12), 8 (13, +6), 9 (12), 10 (13, +8), 11 (12), 12 (13, +5), 13 (12), 14 (13, +4), 15 (13, +13), 16 (12), 17 (10), 18 (13, +8), 19-20 (12), 21 (10)

Signatures

Quires 1-17 signed 1-17, lower center last verso and first recto; quires 18-21 signed 1-4, lower center last verso and first recto; signed with Armenian numerals; no signatures at the beginning of the first quire or the end of the last quire in a sequence, or when the last verso or first recto of a quire has a full-page illumination (p. 368)

Support

Parchment

Binding

Blind-tooled morocco; two metal clasps on ribbons; vertical crack in spine; folio edges have gilding and floral designs

Layout

One column of twenty-two lines; vertical bounding lines ruled in red ink; written area: 70 x 44 mm

Decoration

Ten full-page miniatures (David the Psalmist, Flyleaf i; the Prophet Moses, pp. 34, 80, 131; Hannah, p. 178; the Prophet Isaiah, p. 232; the Prophet Isaiah with King Hezekiah, p. 276; the Prophet Isaiah, p. 323; the Prophet Habakkuk, p. 368; an unidentified figure with halo and book, p. 428); eight illuminated headpieces with accompanying ornament in the margin at the opening of each of the eight canons of the Psalms (pp. 1, 42, 89, 140, 186, 238, 282, 330), with the opening line of each canon written in bird letters and the second line in erkat'agir; one illuminated headpiece in the perpetual calendar (p. 431); marginal ornaments (numerous small illustrations of King David and illustrations of a few other figures, geometric designs, arabesques, and birds) throughout; large initials in colors and burnished gold, usually accompanying marginal ornaments; small initials in blue or burnished gold

Script

Bolorgir

Provenance

• Illuminated "for the enjoyment of the youth Simēon" (inscription, fol. 1v); purchased by Bart'ułimēos Davrižec'i on August 1, A.E. 1186 (1737) and offered by him to the Holy See of Ējmiatsin as a memorial to himself, to his deceased brother Gaspar, to his parents, the priest Vardan and P'arixan, and to other unnamed relatives (inscription, p. 185); Philip S. Collins, Philadelphia (bookplate inside front cover); gift of Mrs. Philip S. Collins in memory of her husband, 1945
   

Keywords

• Psalter
• 16th century
• 17th century
• Armenian
• Headpiece
• Illumination
• Armenia

Licenses

• Text

  These images and the content of Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, 1945‑65‑20: Liturgical psalter and perpetual calendar are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

• Text

  To the extent possible under law, Philadelphia Museum of Art has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this metadata about Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs 1945‑65‑20: Liturgical psalter and perpetual calendar. This work is published from: United States. For a summary of CC0, see https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/. Legal code: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode.

  URL

  https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode

Table of contents

• 1 — Psalter
• 416 — Perpetual calendar

Decorations

• Inside front cover — Bookplate, Philip S. Collins
• Flyleaf ii — Full-page miniature, David the Psalmist
• 1 — Illuminated headpiece
• 34 — Full-page illumination, Prophet Moses
• 42 — Illuminated headpiece
• 80 — Full-page miniature, Prophet Moses
• 89 — Illuminated headpiece
• 132 — Full-page miniature, Prophet Moses
• 140 — Illuminated headpiece
• 178 — Full-page miniature, Prophet Hannah
• 186 — Illuminated headpiece
• 232 — Full-page miniature, Prophet Isaiah
• 238 — Illuminated headpiece
• 276 — Full-page illumination, Prophet Isaiah and King Hezekiah
• 282 — Illuminated headpiece
• 324 — Full-page miniature, Prophet Isaiah
• 330 — Illuminated headpiece
• 368 — Full-page miniature, Prophet Habakkuk
• 428 — Full-page miniature, Unidentified figure with halo and book
• 431 — Illuminated headpiece