{
"data": {
"id": 126808,
"accession_number": "1949.202",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Cutting from an Antiphonary: Initial A[spiciens a longe]: The Tree of Jesse, c. 1115\u201325. Germany, Meuse Valley. 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",
"current_location": "115 Manuscripts & Textiles",
"title": "Cutting from an Antiphonary: Initial A[spiciens a longe]: The Tree of Jesse",
"creation_date": "c. 1115\u201325",
"creation_date_earliest": 1115,
"creation_date_latest": 1125,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Germany, Meuse Valley"
],
"technique": "ink, tempera, and gold on vellum",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Medieval Art",
"collection": "MED - Manuscript Illuminations",
"type": "Manuscript",
"measurements": "Sheet: 18 x 16 cm (7 1/16 x 6 5/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"sheet": {
"height": 0.18,
"height_inch": 7,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.0625,
"width": 0.16,
"width_inch": 6,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.3125
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "Ecce Virgo Consipiet et Pariet Filium",
"inscription_translation": "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son...",
"inscription_remark": "Banderole Held by Isaiah, Bottom Right",
"sortorder": null
},
{
"inscription": "Domine inclina celos tuos et descende",
"inscription_translation": "Bow thy heavens, O Lord and come down...",
"inscription_remark": "Bottom Left Crowned Figure Banderole",
"sortorder": null
},
{
"inscription": "Ego flos campi et llium convalluim",
"inscription_translation": "I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys",
"inscription_remark": "Virgin, Center Banderole",
"sortorder": null
},
{
"inscription": "Ego sum lux mundi",
"inscription_translation": "I am the light of the world",
"inscription_remark": "Christ's Book, Above Center",
"sortorder": null
},
{
"inscription": "In principio erat verbum",
"inscription_translation": "In the beginning was the word",
"inscription_remark": "Top Right, St. John the Evangelist Banderole",
"sortorder": null
},
{
"inscription": "Ecce Agnus Dei",
"inscription_translation": "Behold the Lamb of God",
"inscription_remark": "Top Left, St. John the Baptist Banderole",
"sortorder": null
},
{
"inscription": "V (?) ex Syon species decoris eius",
"inscription_translation": "Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty...",
"inscription_remark": "Outside the border upper right in red",
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 300836,
"title": "The Tree of Life",
"description": "The Tree of Life. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 7-March 8, 1955).",
"opening_date": "1955-01-07T05:00:00"
},
{
"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": 703224,
"title": "Roots of Divinity: Christ\u2019s Family Tree in Northern European Medieval Art",
"description": "Roots of Divinity: Christ\u2019s Family Tree in Northern European Medieval Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 6, 2026-August 8, 2027).",
"opening_date": "2026-09-06T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "C.G. Boerner, Leipzig, Germany",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": null,
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "Professor Robert Forrer (1866-1947), Strasbourg, France",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": null,
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "Mrs. Addie Wolff (Mrs. Otto H. Kahn) (d. 1949), New York, NY, sold to Joseph Brummer Gallery",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "?-1943",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "(Joseph Brummer Gallery, sold to Vladimir G. Simkovitch)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1943-1949",
"sortorder": 4
},
{
"description": "Vladimir G. Simkhovitch (1874-1959), New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1949",
"sortorder": 5
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1949-",
"sortorder": 6
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": null,
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"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.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79906435"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1949.202-cutting-from-an-anti"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Forrer, Robert. Unedierte Federzeichnungen, Miniaturen und Initialen des Mittelalters Vol. 2. Stra\u00dfburg im Elsa\u00df: Schlesier & Schweihhardt, 1907.",
"page_number": "pl. IV",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Watson, Arthur. The Early Iconography of the Tree of Jesse. London: Oxford University Press, H. Milford, 1934.",
"page_number": "Pl. XXXI",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "The Brummer Gallery Records. Cloisters (Museum), n.d.",
"page_number": null,
"url": "https://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16028coll9/id/19222/rec/1"
},
{
"citation": "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"
},
{
"citation": "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"
},
{
"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. 48",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n72"
},
{
"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. 48",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n70"
},
{
"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. 53",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n73"
},
{
"citation": "Hidrio, Guyle\u0300ne. L'iconographie du Speculum virginum. 2017.",
"page_number": "p. 55, no. 77",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1949.202",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1949.202/1949.202_web.jpg",
"width": "834",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "730265",
"filename": "1949.202_web.jpg"
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"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1949.202/1949.202_print.jpg",
"width": "3177",
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"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1949.202/1949.202_full.tif",
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},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 126808,
"creators": [],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1949-06-14T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1115,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "c. 1115\u201325",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"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": "2026-09-06 05:01:23.660000"
}
}