Andvari - 01.10.1967, Page 68

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SELMA JÓNSDÓTTIR
ANDVARI
the miniature of the Adoration of the Magi in
ÍB 363 and the line-fillers in ÍB 363 and Lbs.
fragm. 51, and helieves that all three vellum
leaves come from the same manuscript, a Psalter.
The Psalter has been a splendid manuscript,
measuring originally about 35—37 cm by 25
cm, with a line-length of about 16 cm, with
possibly eight historiated initals before Psalms 1,
26, 38, 52, 68, 80, 97, 109 and then great ini-
tials before Psalms 51 and 101. The object of
these pictures may have come from the Life of
Christ, which is not common in Psalters. Exten-
sive use has been made of gold which shows
that the book was made abroad, for gold was
never used in the illumination of manuscripts
in Iceland.
A comparison with other foreign manuscripts
has shown that the illumination most closely
resembles that found in English manuscripts, as
the Tickhill Psalter group, especially the Bar-
dolf-Vaux Psalter, Lambeth Palace MS 233,
dated hy D. Egbert c. 1310—1320 (2). Simi-
larity in the handwriting between the Icelandic
fragments and the Ormesby Psalter are indi-
cated (Fig. 5).
On the top of the Crucifixion page is the
following inscription, written in a different
hand: lstud psálterium pertinet domui de Care-
howe (Fig. 6). This shows that the Icelandic
Psalter has once been in the library of the
Benedictine nunnery at Carrow, which was just
outside the town of Norwich.
In the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, is
another psalter which hears the same inscrip-
tion, written evidently by the same person and
at the same time (Fig. 7). This inscription M. R.
James dates to the 15th century (4). According
to this dating by M. R. Jarnes the Icelandic
psalter should also have been in Carrow at the
same time.
It is pointed out that illuminations in some
Icelandic manuscripts of the 14th century seem
to be influenced by the Tickhill Psalter group.
A manuscript of this type must therefore have
been found in Iceland at that time. — M. R.
James dating of the inscription in the Baltimore
Carrow Psalter seems to exclude the possihility
of the Icelandic Carrow Psalter having been
that manuscript. So it must be concluded that
another manuscript of the Tickhill Psalter
group has been in Iceland already in the 14th
century.
LJÓSMYNDIR (Photographes):
1. Landsbókasafn íslands ÍB 363 8vo.
Ljósmyndari Gunnar Rúnar.
2. Landsbókasafn íslands ÍB 363 8vo.
Ljósmyndari Gunnar Rúnar.
3. Landsbókasafn íslands Lhs. fragm. 51.
Ljósmyndari Gunnar Rúnar.
4. Þjóðminjasafn íslands nr. 4678.
Ljósmyndari Gísli Gestsson.
5. Bodleian Library, Oxford MS Douce 366.
Ljósmynd University Press, Oxford.
6. Þjóðminjasafn íslands nr. 4678.
Ljósmyndari Gísli Gestsson.
7. Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore MS 34.
Ljósmynd Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.
8. Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore MS 34.
Ljósmynd Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.