The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
Summary of all knowledge, divided into 3 parts on the creation of the world and man, geography, and astronomy; copy of the earliest recension in 6,600 octosyllabic lines of verse, as composed in 1245 by Gautier of Metz.
Support: parchment; Extent: 132 leaves : 210 x 153 (144 x 80) mm. bound to 220 x 160 mm; Collation: Parchment, i (16th-century paper) + 132; 1-2⁸ 3⁶ 4-5⁸ 6-7⁴ 8-17⁸ 18⁴(+2). Horizontal catchwords, lower center.
Written in 26 long lines; frame-ruled in lead with a narrow column along the left side of the text block for the initials at the beginning of each line.
Written in a French hybrid script by at least 2 hands.
7-line illuminated opening initial in blue and red on a gold ground with extensions (f. 2r); 18 astronomical diagrams in red and black (f. 38r, 39v, 40v, 41r, 42r, 45r, 46r, 46v, 47r, 86v, 90r, 91v, 93r, 94v, 128r); first initials of sections alternate between red with purple flourishing and blue with red flourishing; first initials of page often enlarged and decorated, sometimes with red or blue pigment added, sometimes with faces (f. 14r-15v) or hands (f. 28v, 47v, 69r, 111v) or zoomorphic forms (dragons, f. 24r, 64r, 99r, 121r; storks or cranes, f. 71r, 119v, 127v; snake, f. 78v; wolves' or dragons' heads, f. 66r, 82r, 126v; geese, f. 49r, 120v, 130r); rubrics in red; initials touched with yellow; ascenders of top line and descenders of bottom line elongated and decorated; most catchwords enclosed in decorative frames, mostly touched with yellow, sometimes with additions in red ink (f. 8v, 16v, 22v, 30v, 38v, 46v, 50v, 54v, 62v, 70v, 78v, 86v, 94v, 102v, 110v, 118v).
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.
Ms. codex.
Title from opening rubric (f. 2r); title Mapemonde in caption title (f. 2r) and closing rubric (f. 130r).
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.
France
Written in France, ca. 1400.
16th-century calf over boards, blind-stamped and -tooled, center armorial medallion of Benoît de Court (3 5-pointed stars on a shield enclosed by a wreath).
Middle French
Formerly owned by Benoît le Court (binding, note of price on upper pastedown) and his son Antoine (signature Antonius Curtius Simphorianus on front flyleaf and lower pastedown, later notes in ink, f. 132v).
Formerly owned by Jehan de Gaignières (or Jean, Johannus in manuscript), procurator of the court of the Primate of Lyon (signature, f. 130r).
Sold by Librairie Thomas-Scheler (Paris), cat. Un Choix (1998), no. 1, to Lawrence J. Schoenberg.
Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2012.
France
Written in France, ca. 1400.
Middle French
Formerly owned by Benoît le Court
Formerly owned by Jehan de Gaignières
Sold by Librairie Thomas-Scheler
Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2012.
Summary of all knowledge, divided into 3 parts on the creation of the world and man, geography, and astronomy; copy of the earliest recension in 6,600 octosyllabic lines of verse, as composed in 1245 by Gautier of Metz.
Ms. codex.
Title from opening rubric (f. 2r); title Mapemonde in caption title (f. 2r) and closing rubric (f. 130r).
Written in a French hybrid script by at least 2 hands.
7-line illuminated opening initial in blue and red on a gold ground with extensions (f. 2r); 18 astronomical diagrams in red and black (f. 38r, 39v, 40v, 41r, 42r, 45r, 46r, 46v, 47r, 86v, 90r, 91v, 93r, 94v, 128r); first initials of sections alternate between red with purple flourishing and blue with red flourishing; first initials of page often enlarged and decorated, sometimes with red or blue pigment added, sometimes with faces (f. 14r-15v) or hands (f. 28v, 47v, 69r, 111v) or zoomorphic forms (dragons, f. 24r, 64r, 99r, 121r; storks or cranes, f. 71r, 119v, 127v; snake, f. 78v; wolves' or dragons' heads, f. 66r, 82r, 126v; geese, f. 49r, 120v, 130r); rubrics in red; initials touched with yellow; ascenders of top line and descenders of bottom line elongated and decorated; most catchwords enclosed in decorative frames, mostly touched with yellow, sometimes with additions in red ink (f. 8v, 16v, 22v, 30v, 38v, 46v, 50v, 54v, 62v, 70v, 78v, 86v, 94v, 102v, 110v, 118v).
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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