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

Title

Liturgical psalter

Other related names

• White, Samuel S. (Samuel Stockton), 1876-1952, former owner
• White, Vera M. (American painter and lithographer, 1888-1966), former owner (http://viaf.org/viaf/95849054)

Funders

• Council on Library and Information Resources

Call number

1953‑128‑7
(Philadelphia, United States, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, The Samuel S. White 3rd and Vera White Collection)

Publisher

Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs

Language

Armenian

Origin

Place

Armenia

Summary

This manuscript is a liturgical psalter 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. There is also a supplication in the name of God for the protection of man and a brief work on the Holy Cross. The manuscript includes nine leaves with full-page illuminations of Biblical figures or scenes on one side and full-page illuminations of flowers on the other, and eight illuminated headpieces at the beginning of the canons of the the Psalter.

Extent

V+248+iv; 120 x 90 mm bound to 120 x 100 mm

Foliation

Modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto; 1-90, i, 91-247

Collation

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

Signatures

Quires 1-19 signed 1-19, lower center last verso and first recto; signed with Armenian numerals; no signature at the beginning of the first and thirteenth quires (fol. 149r)

Support

Parchment

Binding

Morocco, gilt-tooled and gilt-stamped; floral designs on folio edges

Layout

One column of nineteen lines; box-ruled, with single inner vertical bounding line and double outer vertical bounding line in faint ink often still visible; written area: 90 x 55 mm

Decoration

Eighteen full-page illuminations of Biblical portraits and scenes (fols. 1v, 27v, 56v, 88r, 112v, 142r, 194r, 223r, 231r) and flowers (fols. 1r, 27r, 56r, 88v, 112r, 142v, 194v, 223v, 231v; eight small illuminated headpieces at the openings of the canons of the Psalter, with the opening line of the canon written in bird letters and the second and third lines in erkat'agir; large and small initials in color and burnished gold throughout, usually accompanied by marginal decorations (mostly geometric designs and birds); text framed with red and gold fillets

Script

Bolorgir

Provenance

• Gift of Samuel S. White 3rd and Vera White, 1953
   

Keywords

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

Licenses

• Text

  These images and the content of Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, 1953‑128‑7: Liturgical psalter 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 1953‑128‑7: Liturgical psalter. 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

• fol. 2r — Psalter

Decorations

• fol. 1r — Full-page miniature, Floral design
• fol. 1v — Full-page miniature, David the Psalmist
• fol. 2r — Illuminated headpiece
• fol. 27r [=28r — Full-page illumination, Floral design
• fol. 27v [=28v — Full-page illumination, David the Psalmist
• fol. 28r [=29r — Illuminated headpiece
• fol. 56r [=57r — Full-page illumination, Floral design
• fol. 56v [=57v — Full-page illumination, David the Psalmist
• fol. 57r [=58r — Illuminated headpiece
• fol. 87v [=88v — Illuminated headpiece
• fol. 88r [=89r — Full-page miniature, David the Psalmist
• fol. 88v [=89v — Full-page miniature, Floral design
• fol. 112r [=113r — Full-page miniature, Floral design
• fol. 112v [=113v — Full-page miniature, God the Father above a crowd
• fol. 113r [=114r — Illuminated headpiece
• fol. 141v [=142v — Illuminated headpiece
• fol. 142r [=143r — Full-page miniature, Prophet Moses
• fol. 142v [=143v — Full-page miniature, Floral design
• fol. 167r [=168r — Illuminated headpiece
• fol. 193v [=194v — Illuminated headpiece
• fol. 194r [=195r — Full-page illumination, Figure with halo behind bars
• fol. 194v [=195v — Full-page illumination, Floral design
• fol. 223r [=224r — Full-page illumination, Annunciation
• fol. 223v [=224v — Full-page illumination, Floral design
• fol. 231r [=232r — Full-page illumination, Saint Nerses Snorhali
• fol. 231v [=232v — Full-page illumination, Floral design