The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
This manuscript is a copy of a didactic work by Jean Germain, bishop of Chalon-sur-Saône in Burgundy, the text originally written in 1457. It illustrates the progress of the Church. The text describes in five parts a planned tapestry showing biblical and allegorical figures pulling a wagon bearing the Church Militant and explains their meanings. Six double-page watercolor illustrations of sections of the tapestry accompany the text, with an illustration for each part plus an extra illustration for the fifth part. The text is in Middle French, except for prayers in Latin, and written in bâtarde script with the first line of each chapter in textualis quadrata; the heavy ink of these display letters has damaged several leaves due to oxidization. Occasional corrections have been made by crossing out words or phrases in red. The first leaf of the table of contents is missing, and there also seems to be text missing in the fifth part (following fol. 175).
Support: Mixed; Extent: iii+186+iii; 275 x 195 mm bound to 290 x 215 mm; Foliation: Modern foliation in pencil, upper center recto; Collation: 1 (4, -1), 2 (2), 3 (10), 4-5 (12), 6 (2), 7-10 (12), 11-12 (14), 13 (12), 14 (14), 15-16 (12), 17 (8), 18 (11, +11); Signatures: Quires 4-16 signed ii-xiii, lower right first recto, skipping Quire 6, which is a parchment bifolium bound in between quires; Catchwords: Horizontal catchwords in ink, lower right last verso, underlined or boxed; the last catchword (fol. 175v) does not match the text that follows it
One column of twenty to thirty-three lines; frame-ruled in lead; written area: 184 x 107 mm
Bâtarde
Six double-page watercolor illustrations on parchment, depicting the procession of the Church Militant and interspersed to correspond with appropriate sections of the text; six large decorated initials in red, blue, and yellow at the openings of the first two parts (fols. 6r, 42r); large initials in red at the beginning of the remaining parts (fols. 94r, 108r, 142v); smaller decorated initials in red at the beginning of each chapter; eleven small figures drawn within ascenders; rubrication for chapters in red; initials touched with yellow
For a full list of Decorations in this manuscript please see the Content and Decorations section by clicking on the [i] button in the top left corner of the image viewer above.
Written in pencil is the comment, "An extremely important volume. The drawings represent the tapestry which Jean Germain, Bishop of Chalon, had made for his cathedral (? the prologue). It is therefore extremely curious and valuable for the history of early French tapestry. T??." On the back endpaper is written, "Collections sll. i10 ii-xiiii12 xv5
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
Burgundy?, France
Circa 1460-1470
Eighteenth-century brown calf over pasteboard; "CHEMIN DU PARAD[IS] PAR S. GERMAIN EVESQUE DE CHALONS. MANUSCRIT CURIEUX [P]AR SES MINIATURES DE 1380" stamped in gold on spine; Phillipps label 219 pasted on tail of spine
Middle French (ca. 1400-1600); Latin
Early inscriptions crossed out (lower margins, fols. 72v and 168r); the name Jehan in lead (lower margin, fol. 77r); Sir Thomas Phillips (stamp on front flyleaf and number MS. 219 on flyleaf, inside front cover, and on label on tail of spine); acquired from H. P. Kraus, New York (cat. 75, no. 39); Free Library of Philadelphia; inscriptions on front endpaper include "160," "140," "$2,800.00," and "Okay."
Burgundy?, France
Circa 1460-1470
Middle French (ca. 1400-1600); Latin
Early inscriptions crossed out
This manuscript is a copy of a didactic work by Jean Germain, bishop of Chalon-sur-Saône in Burgundy, the text originally written in 1457. It illustrates the progress of the Church. The text describes in five parts a planned tapestry showing biblical and allegorical figures pulling a wagon bearing the Church Militant and explains their meanings. Six double-page watercolor illustrations of sections of the tapestry accompany the text, with an illustration for each part plus an extra illustration for the fifth part. The text is in Middle French, except for prayers in Latin, and written in bâtarde script with the first line of each chapter in textualis quadrata; the heavy ink of these display letters has damaged several leaves due to oxidization. Occasional corrections have been made by crossing out words or phrases in red. The first leaf of the table of contents is missing, and there also seems to be text missing in the fifth part (following fol. 175).
Written in pencil is the comment, "An extremely important volume. The drawings represent the tapestry which Jean Germain, Bishop of Chalon, had made for his cathedral (? the prologue). It is therefore extremely curious and valuable for the history of early French tapestry. T??." On the back endpaper is written, "Collections sll. i10 ii-xiiii12 xv5
Bâtarde
Six double-page watercolor illustrations on parchment, depicting the procession of the Church Militant and interspersed to correspond with appropriate sections of the text; six large decorated initials in red, blue, and yellow at the openings of the first two parts (fols. 6r, 42r); large initials in red at the beginning of the remaining parts (fols. 94r, 108r, 142v); smaller decorated initials in red at the beginning of each chapter; eleven small figures drawn within ascenders; rubrication for chapters in red; initials touched with yellow
For a full list of Decorations in this manuscript please see the Content and Decorations section by clicking on the [i] button in the top left corner of the image viewer above.
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
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