The Golden Psalter of St. Gall (Psalterium Aureum, Codex Sangallensis 22) is a Carolingian Gallican psalter produced in the late 9th century, probably begun in West Francia (Soissons, court school of Charles the Bald?), later continued in St. Gall Abbey.
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The manuscript consists of 344 vellum leaves (37 cm × 28 cm, 15 in × 11 in), with two full-page miniatures and fifteen full or half-page illustrations on the psalm titles. The decorations are predominantly in the first half of the manuscript. The final pictorial illustration shows "David in the desert of Judah" (depicted as a Carolingian nobleman with three men-at-arms standing in a forest), illustrating psalm 62 (63) (p. 141), although the figure of King David is again shown as standing on the S initial of psalm 68 (69).
References
edit- Scherrer Gustav, Verzeichniss der Handschriften der Stiftsbibliothek von St. Gallen, Halle 1875, 11–12.
- Florentine Mütherich, Joachim E. Gaehde: Karolingische Buchmalerei. Prestel, München 1979, 122–126.
- Euw, Anton von, Die St. Galler Buchkunst vom 8. bis zum Ende des 11. Jahrhunderts, Band I: Textband, St. Gallen 2008, 400–408, Nr. 98.