This richly decorated Jewish psalter was first documented in the collection of Giovanni Bernardo de Rossi, a noted Christian scholar of the Hebrew language at the University of Parma in the early 19th century. Though the manuscript’s original owners are not known, the colorful illuminations with delicate gilding indicate it must have been made for wealthy Jewish patrons who delighted in its depictions of fantastical animal-headed figures playing contemporary musical instruments. The psalms are framed on each page with commentaries by the Jewish philosopher Abraham Ibn Ezra, written in a smaller hand; some of these texts are unique survivals not known in any other manuscript. |
