Draft:MS Ham. 78.A.5


MS Ham. 78.A.5 (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, also known as the Hamilton Psalter) dates to late twelfth-century Italy (ca. 1175). The manuscipt features nearly two hundred figurative illuminations that accompany the Gallican psalms, canticles, commentaries, a litany, and prayers. The illuminations are rendered primarily in vibrant red, green, yellow, and blue with black detailing. The manuscript is a unique survival with an unknown provenance before the early nineteenth century, during which it entered the collection of Alexander Hamilton (1767–1852, the tenth Duke of Hamilton). The Berlin Kupferstichkabinett acquired the Psalter from Hamilton’s collection in 1882.