Here is a back to the throne of a deep blue, with a background,
as before, of bright flat gold. The white moulding is shaded with pale
green, with bluish slate corners. The outer border is of the pale red
ochre or pink, so common in later work in contrast with deep blue. An
outer frame or edging of green completes the page. The harp is not
gilded, but of a drab hue, with two quatrefoil studs or orifices in the
frame, relieved as usual with fine edges of white. Compare this MS. with
one in the Library at Lambeth.
The English illumination of the thirteenth century is so like that of
France that it is often difficult to determine its real nationality.
There is occasionally some feature which we know from other sources to
be English, or some circumstance in the history of the MS. which fixes
its origin, as, for example, in the Additional MS. 24686, known as the
Tenison Psalter. Sir E.M. Thompson also describes this MS. in the
_Bibliographica_, i. 397. But it was previously described at some length
by Sir Edward Bond in the Fine Arts _Quarterly Review_. The Psalter,
which has had a somewhat eventful history, is one of the best examples
of English thirteenth-century illumination. At least, this may be said
of the early portion of it, for while it is illuminated throughout, only
the first gathering is in the earlier manner.
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