Senin, 29 September 2008

Nepal Horse Book

Nepal Horse Book (cover)


Nepal Horse Book cover (detail) 1


Nepal Horse Book cover (detail)


Nepal Horse Book


Nepal Horse Book a


Nepal Horse Book b


Nepal Horse Book b (detail)


Nepal Horse Book c


Nepal Horse Book d


Nepal Horse Book e


Nepal Horse Book f


The Royal Library in Denmark have a manuscript that they call 'Illustrated work with horses from Nepal' among their Oriental digitized visual art site. The book is presented in a good quality flash site (about 50 pages) and you get a bigger viewing field if you enlarge the browser (unlike many other flash zoomers).

All of the images above were spliced together from screencaps. I've touched up that final image to remove some pencil markings, but left all the others as found.

There appears to be no background information available on this work, even in the Danish section of the site. I have no idea when this manuscript was produced -- even a rough guess would need to cover a few hundred years, say 17th, 18th or 19th centuries perhaps??

The devanagari script makes no sense to my hindi-speaking mate, so presumably it is written in Nepali.

If anyone knows anything more or can find any information about this work, please let us know by either commenting or dropping me a line (peacay AT gmail DOT com).

UPDATE: Christies listed an item a couple of years ago that is either a copy or a derivative work:
"A Treatise on the Nature and Illnesses of Horses, Asvasastra
Nepal, 18th Century
Leporello manuscript on composite native paper, stained yellow on one side, 6 to 9 line of Newari script in black ink, with 32 miniatures of horses, 19 half-page illustrations on the yellow side and 13 on the white side, 22ff."
(I think leporello means folded paper like an accordian) THANKS Tonya!

Nepal Horse Book

Nepal Horse Book (cover)


Nepal Horse Book cover (detail) 1


Nepal Horse Book cover (detail)


Nepal Horse Book


Nepal Horse Book a


Nepal Horse Book b


Nepal Horse Book b (detail)


Nepal Horse Book c


Nepal Horse Book d


Nepal Horse Book e


Nepal Horse Book f


The Royal Library in Denmark have a manuscript that they call 'Illustrated work with horses from Nepal' among their Oriental digitized visual art site. The book is presented in a good quality flash site (about 50 pages) and you get a bigger viewing field if you enlarge the browser (unlike many other flash zoomers).

All of the images above were spliced together from screencaps. I've touched up that final image to remove some pencil markings, but left all the others as found.

There appears to be no background information available on this work, even in the Danish section of the site. I have no idea when this manuscript was produced -- even a rough guess would need to cover a few hundred years, say 17th, 18th or 19th centuries perhaps??

The devanagari script makes no sense to my hindi-speaking mate, so presumably it is written in Nepali.

If anyone knows anything more or can find any information about this work, please let us know by either commenting or dropping me a line (peacay AT gmail DOT com).

UPDATE: Christies listed an item a couple of years ago that is either a copy or a derivative work:
"A Treatise on the Nature and Illnesses of Horses, Asvasastra
Nepal, 18th Century
Leporello manuscript on composite native paper, stained yellow on one side, 6 to 9 line of Newari script in black ink, with 32 miniatures of horses, 19 half-page illustrations on the yellow side and 13 on the white side, 22ff."
(I think leporello means folded paper like an accordian) THANKS Tonya!

Jumat, 26 September 2008

Knight's Tournament Book

medieval tournament - knights jousting


knights jousting tournament


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p25


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p27


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p29


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p31


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p37


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p39


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p41


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p49


tournament book jousting


medieval knights jousting


jousting tournament


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p69


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p73


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p71


'Turnierbuch. Ritterspiele gehalten von Kaiser Friedrich III. und Kaiser Maximilian I. in den Jahren 1489 - 1511 - BSB Cod.icon. 398' is online at MDZ.

(Tournament book. Knight games held by Emperor Frederick III. Emperor Maximilian I and in the years 1489 to 1511)

The bright, colourful tunics and horse covers make this anonymous manuscript from the mid-1550s an eye catching delight. There is background information available for the keen (in German) [translation]. All of the above images (which are about half or less of the total) have been modestly spot/stain cleaned.

Knight's Tournament Book

medieval tournament - knights jousting


knights jousting tournament


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p25


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p27


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p29


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p31


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p37


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p39


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p41


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p49


tournament book jousting


medieval knights jousting


jousting tournament


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p69


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p73


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p71


'Turnierbuch. Ritterspiele gehalten von Kaiser Friedrich III. und Kaiser Maximilian I. in den Jahren 1489 - 1511 - BSB Cod.icon. 398' is online at MDZ.

(Tournament book. Knight games held by Emperor Frederick III. Emperor Maximilian I and in the years 1489 to 1511)

The bright, colourful tunics and horse covers make this anonymous manuscript from the mid-1550s an eye catching delight. There is background information available for the keen (in German) [translation]. All of the above images (which are about half or less of the total) have been modestly spot/stain cleaned.