Artwork Page for Leaf from a Psalter and Prayerbook: Ornamental Border with Pea Vines and a Girl Kneading Bread (recto)

Details / Information for Leaf from a Psalter and Prayerbook: Ornamental Border with Pea Vines and a Girl Kneading Bread (recto)

Leaf from a Psalter and Prayerbook: Ornamental Border with Pea Vines and a Girl Kneading Bread (recto)

c. 1524
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Measurements
Each leaf: 16.6 x 13.5 cm (6 9/16 x 5 5/16 in.)
Public Domain
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Description

This leaf and the one nearby were excised from the same prayer book. They reveal the favored secular motifs that include decorations with animals, peasants, and domestic activities such as cooking. Here a woman is shown kneading bread. A composite text combining features of a psalter, a collection of psalms or religious verses, and a prayer book, it was used during Mass and other services. The original book was a highly personalized volume written and illuminated in or around the city of Hildesheim in Northern Germany, as suggested by the prominent inclusion of Saint Godehard, Bishop of Hildesheim (died 1038), in the calendar (not shown).
This manuscript leaf displays a central block of black Latin script punctuated by five blue and red decorative initials. A broad gold border surrounds the text, decorated with climbing green pea vines and pods on the right. In the bottom right corner, a girl with light skin tone kneads dough at a table. Intricate, stylized flowers in blue, red, and green bloom along the bottom and left edges, completing the ornate gilded frame.

Leaf from a Psalter and Prayerbook: Ornamental Border with Pea Vines and a Girl Kneading Bread (recto)

c. 1524

Germany, Hildesheim(?), 16th century

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