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This precious volume was obviously highly prized by its owner, the French-born King of Navarre, who had his coat of arms painted on no less than twenty folios. Rather than directly commissioning this manuscript from a specific workshop, it seems that Charles the Noble acquired his book of hours -- perhaps ready-made for the luxury market -- while on a trip to Paris in 1404-05. A collaborative effort, six painting styles are evidenced within the pages of this codex, those of two Italians, two Frenchmen, and two Netherlanders. The painter who was responsible for the planning and decoration of the book, and who produced seventeen of the large miniatures, was a Bolognese artist known as the Master of the Brussels Initials. His principal assistant, responsible for most of the borders, was a Florentine who signed his name "Zecho" da Firenze on folio 208 verso.
France, Paris
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
Codex: 20.3 x 15.7 x 7 cm (8 x 6 3/16 x 2 3/4 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Egypt, New Kingdom (1540–1069 BCE), Dynasty 18, reign of Tuthmosis III (1479–1425 BCE)–reign of Amenhotep III (1390–1352 BCE)
Nile silt ware
Overall: 13.5 x 7.4 x 5 cm (5 5/16 x 2 15/16 x 1 15/16 in.)
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust
Thomas Seymour
1771–1848
106 3/4 x 58 5/8 x 79 1/2 in. (271.1 x 148.9 x 201.9 cm)
medium: Mahogany, mahogany veneer, mahoganized maple and white pine, painted and gilded wood
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY 18.110.64 1918
John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1918
Just like the last one, the illustration blows me away. I have a strong desire to be a better creator of characters.
Each of the four gospels in this book opens on a page with brilliantly illuminated borders depicting the author of the text as well as birds-principally peacocks, symbols of the immortality of the soul-and fountains, representing the fountain of life and the salvation of the soul. This volume consists of 428 leaves with texts in Greek. Its level of sophistication suggests that it was probably written and decorated in a monastery in Constantinople.
Byzantium, Constantinople
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum; leather binding
Sheet: 28 x 23 cm (11 x 9 1/16 in.)
Did you know...
Gospel Books were carried in procession through Byzantine churches.
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
This dagger is decorated with an incised human face and a geometric pattern.
Melanesia, Papua New Guinea, Sepik River region, 19th century
cassowary bone
Overall: 33.6 x 4.6 cm (13 1/4 x 1 13/16 in.)
Gift of Mrs. Charles E. Roseman
This kozuka was made in Nagasaki, the main port during Japan's period of restricted foreign interchange between the 1630s and the 1850s. Most of Japan's foreign trade during that time occurred through Nagasaki. The large boat in the center is a Dutch ship. The flag at its left is either the Dutch tricolor or the flag of the Dutch East Indies Company, which used the tricolor as a background. The two boats on the right are Chinese junks. Five other small boats are in the water between the large ships. These boats are tied to together and are pulling the large boat into port. Part of the port can be seen behind the small boats.
Japanese
3 7/8 in. (9.8 cm)
medium: shibuichi, gold, silver, copper
style: Ishiguro School
culture: Japanese
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Extracts from Alfred Jacob Miller’s original text, which accompanied his images of Native Americans, are included below for reference.
"The most favorable time to view these Lakes (to an artist especially) was early in the morning or towards sunset;- at these times one side or the other would be thrown into deep purple masses, throwing great broad shadows, with sharp light glittering on the extreme tops,- while the opposite mountains received its full complement of awrm, mellow & subdued light;- thus forming a chiaro obscuro and contrast most essential to the picturesque in color:- an attempt has been made to reach this in the sketch. This was the only lake we saw that had an island;- the scene in reality was charming, but would have required the pencil of Satnfield, Turner, or Church in giving it due effect and rendering it complete justice. Patiently it awaits the coming man." A.J. Miller, extracted from "The West of Alfred Jacob Miller" (1837).
In July 1858 William T. Walters commissioned 200 watercolors at twelve dollars apiece from Baltimore born artist Alfred Jacob Miller. These paintings were each accompanied by a descriptive text, and were delivered in installments over the next twenty-one months and ultimately were bound in three albums. Transcriptions of field-sketches drawn during the 1837 expedition that Miller had undertaken to the annual fur-trader's rendezvous in the Green River Valley (in what is now western Wyoming), these watercolors are a unique record of the closing years of the western fur trade.
H: 9 1/8 x W: 12 3/16 in. (23.2 x 30.9 cm)
medium: watercolor on paper
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
On the right side of this tsuba, a tiger is perched on a cliff. While tigers are not native to Japan, they have long been known through Chinese painting. The tiger is often a symbol of strength. The reverse of this tsuba shows two pine trees under a gibbous moon.
Japanese
3 5/16 x 3 1/8 x 3/16 in. (8.35 x 7.88 x 0.45 cm)
medium: iron, shibuichi, gold, silver, shakudo
style: Otsuki School
culture: Japanese
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen kilns, Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Hongzhi mark and reign (1488-1505)
porcelain with incised and underglaze coffee brown (iron oxide) decoration
Diameter: 25.8 cm (10 3/16 in.); Overall: 26 cm (10 1/4 in.)
Severance and Greta Millikin Collection
William Rickarby Miller
American (born England), Staindrop 1818–1893 Bronx, New York
20 3/8 x 14 in. (51.8 x 35.6 cm)
medium: Watercolor, pen and ink, graphite, gouache, and gum arabic on tan wove paper
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY 1992.289 1992
Purchase, Terner Foundation Gift, in memory of Stephen D. Rubin, 1992