Stephan Schreiber's late gothic pattern book was produced in Urach in the (now) state of Baden-Württemberg in South-West Germany in 1494. It was dedicated to Count Eberhard (Eberhard the bearded, later first Duke) of Württemberg.
The parchment manuscript appears to be a manual of templates and/or a practice book containing partially completed sketches, painted and calligraphy initals, stylised floral decorative motifs, plant foliage tendrils, fantastic beast border drolleries, together with some gold and silver illumination work.
'Spätgotisches Musterbuch des Stephan Schriber - BSB Cod.icon. 420' from Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum (MDZ), contains about sixty four pages in total (probably fifty illustrated pages). [Europeana] [catalogue record] [links updated Oct 2014] [via Marion McNealy]
Yet another both amazing and beautiful find...
ReplyDeleteSo many good things to see here, as always.
I love your findings, these are beautiful sketches. thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThis is a marvelous resource for anyone who wants to learn the decorative arts of the middle ages.
ReplyDeleteI discovered this place a couple of days ago and I am in love with it! Congrats and thanks for sharing, its wonderful..
ReplyDeleteI'm new in making a blog, and want to know if I can use your material a voluntad -of course always linking to you-.
thanks again
It realy is beautiful, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI've never seen this one before, but it seems to me that originally it was a collection of practises or try-outs of different techniques and illustration-forms by the artist.
I learned that originally the collection must have been at least three times as big as nowadays.
It was used as a reference by other artists.
There is another very beautiful late gothic modelbook done by Giovannino di Grassi and who's examples have been used many times over, a facsimile of which can be purchased at Faksimile-Verlag in Luzern, Switzerland.
Thanks for posting this one, Peacay!
Thanks for the kind words everybody.
ReplyDeleteJohn, thanks for the ref. about di Grassi. I had a vague recollection I had seen something before and of course the venerable misteraitch posted some scans from a catalogue at Giornale Nuovo a couple of years ago. See also: Faksimile Verlag publication list and Web Gallery of Art on model books (including di Grassi). I may have to revisit the topic somewhere along the line. Cheers.
They're all lovely but the first three strike me as full of designs just waiting to be put on walls as decorative painting. (Could this be what I should do with the blank space over my bed? or perhaps over the printer instead... ah, choices...)
ReplyDeleteAs a serious illuminated manuscript fan, I am thoroughly covetous... this is gorgeous! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely stunning. That page of birds moves me to tears. And that first page is breathtaking.
ReplyDeletePeacay, you are crack cocaine for the eyes.
You obviously mean "BibliOdyssey is crack cocaine for the eyes".
ReplyDeletepeacay is more likely the visual equivalent of an infection for the eyes ;- )
But 'we' both thank you David. It is quite an exquisite work for sure.
Peacay, if BibliOdyssey is crack cocaine for the eyes, I suppose that makes you the crack dealer or a "pusher." How does the Australian legal system feel about such things?
ReplyDeleteThank you! The birds, especially.
ReplyDeleteThis is fast becoming one of my daily reads.
Hmm, gradually the dark side of our ... pusher ... manifests. I suppose I should be blaming BibliOdyssey for my eyestrain, not my daily searches of ArtStor haring after things like "photographer's wagon, early 1860s" and photo from "Harper's Weekly" of slave with scarred back (or even more cheerful things like Harriet Hosmer's Freedmen's monument).
ReplyDeleteNah, it's gorgeous birds giving me that eyestrain.
one of my favorite posts.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm counting on the Aussie authorities putting me on the payroll as an informant for identifying the producers and wholesalers of these eye straining crack arts.
ReplyDeleteGreat! I was just studying history of the middle ages and this has helped immensely to see what is talked about.
ReplyDeleteDidn't spend long on it but the two links in the text don't seem to work.
ReplyDeleteLiam, thanks for pointing that out. I've updated the links to the MS and catalogue record and added an alternative route through the Europeana portal.
ReplyDelete