Macclesfield Psalter

The Macclesfield Psalter is a lavishly illuminated manuscript probably produced c. 1320–30 in East Anglia. The psalter, or book of Psalms, contains 252 beautifully illustrated pages and is named after its most recent owner, the Earl of Macclesfield.

Having rested unrecognised on the shelves of Shirburn Castle for several centuries, finally revealed when the library was catalogued for sale, the Macclesfield Psalter was put up for auction at Sotheby's in 2004. Cambridge University's Fitzwilliam Museum attempted to purchase the Psalter, but the initial bid was won by the Getty Museum of Malibu, California, for £1.7 million. The Psalter subsequently became a cause célèbre as, under British law, the American museum had to gain permission to export the Psalter. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art gave the Psalter a starred rating and a temporary export bar was placed on the Psalter until 10 February 2005. In response, the Fitzwilliam Museum, assisted by an £860,000 contribution from the UK Government's National Heritage Memorial Fund raised the £1.7 million necessary to keep the Psalter in the country. The Psalter, now owned by the Fitzwilliam Museum, was restored, rebound and put on display from 2008.

The Macclesfield Psalter belongs in the "central tradition of the so-called East Anglian manuscripts, as exemplified by the Gorleston Psalter." Like other luxury psalters, the Macclesfield Psalter was probably intended for private reading instead of public use in church. The scribe is believed to be the same one who executed two other psalters from the East Anglian group, the Stowe Breviary and the Douai Psalter.

...
Wikipedia