The Covers
The ivory covers, decorated with some small turquoise beads, show scenes from the life of King David and from the Psychomachia of Prudentius on the front side, and another king performing the Six Works of Mercy from the Gospel of Matthew on the back side, both showing influence from Byzantine, Islamic, and western art. The geometric designs on the covers are especially influenced by Islamic art. The king on the back side is dressed in Byzantine imperial clothes, but most likely represents a crusader king, perhaps Fulk. There is a carving of a falcon above him, which is possibly a clue that the king is Fulk, as "falcon" and "Fulk" in Old French were both "Fouque." Underneath the falcon the name "Herodius" is carved, Latin for Gyrfalcon; although the artist has not signed in the same way Basilius has.
The spine of the psalter is decorated with Byzantine silk and silver thread, as well as red, blue, and green Greek crosses (which are also found in the royal arms of the kingdom). The spine was stitched by an artisan who was perhaps a westerner trained in a Byzantine style, as his stitching is not as smooth as other examples of Byzantine silk spines made by native Greeks.
Read more about this topic: Melisende Psalter
Famous quotes containing the word covers:
“What art can paint or gild any object in afterlife with the glow which Nature gives to the first baubles of childhood. St. Peter’s cannot have the magical power over us that the red and gold covers of our first picture-book possessed. How the imagination cleaves to the warm glories of that tinsel even now! What entertainments make every day bright and short for the fine freshman!”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“And so we ask for peace for the gods of our fathers, for the gods of our native land. It is reasonable that whatever each of us worships is really to be considered one and the same. We gaze up at the same stars, the sky covers us all, the same universe compasses us. What does it matter what practical systems we adopt in our search for the truth. Not by one avenue only can we arrive at so tremendous a secret.”
—Quintus Aurelius Symmachus (A.D. c. 340–402)