Description

The Psalter of Count Ludwig the Younger of Oettingen
Psalter, in German with Latin incipits, illuminated manuscript on vellum, Swabia, 1418
Courtly art of the early 15th century: an entrancing and unpublished addition to the corpus of southern German illuminated manuscripts.

175 x 127mm, iii paper + 252 leaves, collation: 17(of 8 lacking i ?frontispiece or cancelled blank), 2-318, 325(of 6, vi pastedown), catchwords, some signatures, early incomplete foliation 1-19, xx-cxxxiiii, 18 lines, ruled space: 120 x 73mm, some prickings, one-line initials alternately in red or blue some with penwork including faces, eighteen mostly three-line initials in varying combinations of gold, blue, red and green flourished to form partial borders, over 135 mostly four- to five-line initials with partial borders largely of acanthus often with birds, beasts, insects and grotesques, nine large initials, six historiated, with similar borders (lacking the first leaf, slight trimming into some borders, in a few initials the lighter tones of the blue camaïeu decoration have darkened rendering the design illegible).