id: 126808 accession number: 1949.202 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1949.202 updated: 2023-08-25 11:18:33.603000 Cutting from an Antiphonary: Initial A[spiciens a longe]: The Tree of Jesse, c. 1115–1125. Germany, Meuse Valley, 12th century. Ink, tempera, and gold on vellum; sheet: 18 x 16 cm (7 1/16 x 6 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1949.202 title: Cutting from an Antiphonary: Initial A[spiciens a longe]: The Tree of Jesse title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1115–1125 creation date earliest: 1115 creation date latest: 1125 current location: creditline: Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund copyright: --- culture: Germany, Meuse Valley, 12th century technique: ink, tempera, and gold on vellum department: Medieval Art collection: MED - Manuscript Illuminations type: Manuscript find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Sheet: 18 x 16 cm (7 1/16 x 6 5/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Ecce Virgo Consipiet et Pariet Filium translation: remark: inscription: Domine inclina celos tuos et descende translation: remark: inscription: Ego flos campi et llium convalluim translation: remark: inscription: Ego sum lux mundi translation: remark: inscription: In principio erat verbum translation: remark: inscription: Ecce Agnus Dei translation: remark: inscription: V (?) ex Syon species decoris eius translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Tree of Life opening date: 1955-01-07T05:00:00 The Tree of Life. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 7-March 8, 1955). title: The Decorated Letter and the Illuminator's Art opening date: 1993-09-25T04:00:00 The Decorated Letter and the Illuminator's Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 25-December 19, 1993). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE C.G. Boerner, Leipzig, Germany date: footnotes: citations: Professor Robert Forrer (1866-1947), Strasbourg, France date: footnotes: citations: Mrs. Addie Wolff (Mrs. Otto H. Kahn) (d. 1949), New York, NY, sold to Joseph Brummer Gallery date: ?-1943 footnotes: citations: (Joseph Brummer Gallery, sold to Vladimir G. Simkovitch) date: 1943-1949 footnotes: citations: Vladimir G. Simkhovitch (1874-1959), New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: 1949 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1949- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: This complex initial "A" is formed of meandering plant tendrils, neatly and symmetrically placed at the center of a succession of square frames to which the letter is securely attached above and below. The whole forms a Tree of Jesse showing Christ's ancestors beginning with King David (bottom). The text would have begun, "Long have I been watching...." These are the words of Isaiah, who foresaw the coming of Christ. Isaiah's prophecies are the basis for the representations of the Tree of Jesse, often seen in medieval art. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Forrer, Robert. Unedierte Federzeichnungen, Miniaturen und Initialen des Mittelalters Vol. 2. Straßburg im Elsaß: Schlesier & Schweihhardt, 1907. page number: pl. IV url: Watson, Arthur. The Early Iconography of the Tree of Jesse. London: Oxford University Press, H. Milford, 1934. page number: Pl. XXXI url: The Brummer Gallery Records. Cloisters (Museum), n.d. page number: url: https://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16028coll9/id/19222/rec/1 Milliken, William M. "A Tree of Jesse." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 36, no. 8 (1949). page number: pp. 156-58 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25141575 The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 103 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n32 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. 48 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n72 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. 48 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n70 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. 53 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n73 Hidrio, Guylène. L'iconographie du Speculum virginum. 2017. page number: p. 55, no. 77 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1949.202/1949.202_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1949.202/1949.202_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1949.202/1949.202_full.tif