{
"data": {
"id": 114200,
"accession_number": "1933.446",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Bifolium Excised from a Carolingian Gradual, c. 830\u201360. Germany or Northeastern France, 9th century. Gold and silver ink on purple parchment; sheet: 29 x 10 cm (11 7/16 x 3 15/16 in.); framed: 39.4 x 52.1 x 3.2 cm (15 1/2 x 20 1/2 x 1 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1933.446",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Bifolium Excised from a Carolingian Gradual",
"creation_date": "c. 830\u201360",
"creation_date_earliest": 830,
"creation_date_latest": 860,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Germany or Northeastern France, 9th century"
],
"technique": "gold and silver ink on purple parchment",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Medieval Art",
"collection": "MED - Manuscript Illuminations",
"type": "Manuscript",
"measurements": "Sheet: 29 x 10 cm (11 7/16 x 3 15/16 in.); Framed: 39.4 x 52.1 x 3.2 cm (15 1/2 x 20 1/2 x 1 1/4 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"sheet": {
"height": 0.29,
"width": 0.1
},
"framed": {
"height": 0.394,
"width": 0.521,
"depth": 0.032
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 311502,
"title": "The Decorated Letter and the Illuminator's Art",
"description": "The Decorated Letter and the Illuminator's Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 25-December 19, 1993).",
"opening_date": "1993-09-25T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 218984,
"title": "799 - Art and Culture of the Carolingian Period",
"description": "799 - Art and Culture of the Carolingian Period. Erzbisch\u00f6fliches Di\u00f6zesanmuseum und Domschatzkammer (July 23-November 1, 1999).",
"opening_date": "1999-07-23T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 179437,
"title": "Illuminated Manuscripts",
"description": "Illuminated Manuscripts. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 10, 2004-October 2, 2005).",
"opening_date": "2004-10-10T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 302268,
"title": "Devotion and Learning in the Middle Ages",
"description": "Devotion and Learning in the Middle Ages. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 4, 2017-December 3, 2018).",
"opening_date": "2017-12-04T05:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Baltimore, Maryland: Baltimore Museum of Art: \"Western European Illuminated Manuscripts of the Middle Ages and Renaissance\" January 27-March 13, 1949, p. 2.",
"opening_date": "1949-01-27T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "The Royal Ontario Musuem of Archaeology: \"Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts\" April 1-May 31, 1950.",
"opening_date": "1950-04-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Los Angeles County Museum: \"Exhibition of Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts\" November 24, 1953-March 13, 1949.",
"opening_date": "1953-11-24T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Paderborn, Germany: Di\u00f6zesanmuseum (7/23/99 - 11/1/99), \"799-Art and Culture of the Carolingian Period\"",
"opening_date": "1999-07-23T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art (10/10/2004 - 10/02/2005); \"Illuminated Manuscripts\"",
"opening_date": "2004-10-10T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Cathedral of Paderborn(?)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": null
},
{
"description": "Convent of Kenmade, Westphalia",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1777 ",
"sortorder": null
},
{
"description": "Count of Kesselstadt",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": null
},
{
"description": "Private Collection, Westphalia (until 1933)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": null
},
{
"description": "Cathedral of Paderborn(?); Convent of Kemnade, Westphalia (1777); Count of Kesselstadt; Private Collection, Westphalia (unitl 1933)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": null,
"description": "This rare leaf comes from a cantatorium or gradual, a book containing the chants to be sung during the Mass. Other leaves from the same book survive in Berlin and Trier. As a bifolium, or double-leaf, it does not contain decorated letters but rather \"emphasized\" letters. These were enlarged and pushed out into the margins to catch the reader's eye. Such emphasized letters originated in late classical times and were the precursor to the decorated initial developed by medieval scribes. The purple-stained vellum (now faded to a deep pink) with its text written in gold and silver inks (now turned black) suggested great luxury with its sumptuous appearance. In Mediterranean regions, the purple dye was obtained from murex, a shellfish dye. In northern Europe, plant dyes were used as an alternative. Combined with the use of gold and silver ink a spectacular appearance was achieved that is traceable back to classical antiquity.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q80006910"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1933.446-bifolium-excised-fro"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 44",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n68"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 44",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n66"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 49",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n69"
},
{
"citation": "Winter, Patrick M. de. \u201cThe Sacral Treasure of the Guelphs.\u201d The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 72, no. 1 (March 1985): 2\u2013160.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 101, fig. 127; Reproduced: p. 103, fig. 127",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25159893"
},
{
"citation": "Gertsman, Elina and Barbara H. Rosenwein. The Middle Ages in 50 Objects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 118-121; Reproduced: p. 119",
"url": null
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1933.446",
"images": {
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"alternate_images": [
{
"date_created": "2007-05-24T20:19:30",
"annotation": "",
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"creditline": "Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 114200,
"creators": [],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1933-12-28T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 830,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "c. 830\u201360",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "cover",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-03-27 00:04:29.025000"
}
}