Gradual

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Accession number:

MS M.905

Title:

Gradual

Created:

Nuremberg, Germany, 1507-1510.

Binding:

Contemporary German 16th-century pigskin over boards, blind-tooled, including tapestry-trellis pattern and an eagle stamp, attributed to the Adler workshop (active in Nuremberg 1477-1514), with brass bosses in openwork designs attributed to the brass-founding workshop of Peter Vischer the Elder of Nuremberg.

Credit:

Gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, December 1962.

Description:

vol. I : 299 leaves (1 column, 9 staves of 5 lines), bound : vellum, ill. ; 654 x 445 mm

Provenance:

Perhaps commissioned by Provost Anton Kress (1478-1513) of the Church of St. Lorenz, Nuremberg as a gift to the church; the Sacristy, St. Lorenz, Nuremberg; gift of the officials of St. Lorenz to Samuel H. Kress and Rush H. Kress in appreciation for their funding of the rebuilding of St. Lorenz after World War II, in 1952; given by Rush H. Kress to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., December 30, 1952; transferred to the Morgan Library as gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, December, 1961.

Notes:

Ms. gradual in 2 volumes; written and illuminated in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1507 and 1510.
Called the Geese Book because one of the bas-de-page vignettes in M.905 vol. I., fol. 186, depicts a wolf instructing a choir of geese. Vol. I is dated 1507 in an inscription on a flyleaf; vol. II is dated 1510 in an inscription on a flyleaf.
Decoration: vol. I has 11 large historiated initials, 8 decorated initials, 19 pages with decorated borders, 11 bas-de-page vignettes; vol. II has 7 large historiated initials, 11 decorated initials, 18 pages with decorated borders, 11 bas-de-page vignettes.
Musical notaton: 5-line staves with hofnagel notation.
Artist: attributed to Jakob Elsner.
Scribe: Vicar Friedrich Rosendorn of the Church of St. Lorenz, Nuremberg

Script:

textura

Language:

Latin

Resources:

Description/Bibliography

Century:

16th century

Genres:

Graduals

Illuminated manuscripts

Historiated initials