Kálmáncsehi-Liechtenstein Codex
This gorgeously illuminated breviary dated 1481 was created in the workshop of the Corvina Library for Domonkos Kálmáncsehi, Grand Provost of St. Mary's Companion Chapel of Székesfehérvár, Hungary between 1474 and 1495. In the years after he became the Bishop of Oradea, Transylvania, and Kaocsa and in addition to his ecclesiastical role, he also played an active role at the royal court and was entrusted with financial and diplomatic duties. His coat of arms – a shield with a lion and a star of six points crowned by a miter – is depicted six times in the manuscript as a roundel at the bottom of the page, usually embedded in a decorative border. Altogether, the rich décor of the manuscript includes a calendar featuring decorative initials painted green, pink, blue, and gold, a full-page miniature of the Crucifixion, 54 decorative borders – seven of them historiated with animals and people – with floral motifs, vases, etc., 18 roundels and medallion miniatures, and 48 historiated initials as well as hundreds of other decorative initials.
Codicology
- Alternative Titles
- Kálmáncsehi-Liechtenstein codex
Codex Kálmáncsehi-Liechtenstein
Kálmáncsehi Breviarium
Kálmáncsehi-breviarium - Size / Format
- 674 pages / 30.2 × 22.5 cm
- Origin
- Hungary
- Date
- 1481
- Epochs
- Style
- Genre
- Language
- Illustrations
- Calendar featuring decorative initials, 1 full-page miniature, 54 decorative borders (7 of them historiated), 18 roundels and medallion miniatures, and 48 historiated initials as well as hundreds of other decorative initials
- Content
- Breviary and missal
- Patron
- Domonkos Kálmáncsehi
- Previous Owners
- Cistercian abbey of Viktring near Klagenfurt
Library of the Princes of Liechtenstein in Vienna
Kálmáncsehi-Liechtenstein Codex
The Nativity
This magnificent historiated initial – a “P” consisting of green acanthus leaves with a gold frame – shows the newborn Baby Jesus lying on a bed of golden hay as his mother kneels, hands folded in prayer, gazing upon the Messiah. The animals are also captivated by the child: the ox stands back and watches while the donkey leans in to give him a sniff. Joseph stands back holding a book in one hand and making a rhetorical gesture with the other. Unlike the other figures, he stares contemplatively up at the sky with a look of wonder on his face.

Kálmáncsehi-Liechtenstein Codex
The Crucifixion
Christ’s pale body bleeds from the wound in his side made by the spear of Longinus and the nails in his hands and feet as the vinegar-soaked sponge of Stephaton is held aloft in the background. He is flanked by Dymas (left), the repentant thief whose soul is being lifted up by an angel, and Gestes (right), the unrepentant thief who soul is taken by a demon. A crowd of soldiers and the seven hills of Jerusalem fill the background and five figures with halos appear in the foreground: one wipes tears away with a handkerchief, St. John and another figure support the swooning Virgin Mary, and Mary Magdalene embraces Christ’s cross.
The central miniature is surrounded by a gold historiated frame of flowering tendrils with naked figures, some lounging while others frolic and even wrestle. It also contains four medallion miniatures depicting Christ praying in the Garden of Gethsemane (top), the Deposition of Christ (left), the Entombment of Christ (right), and the coat of arms of Domonkos Kámáncsehi surmounted by a miter with infulae.

#1 Kálmáncsehi-breviarium
- Treatises / Secular Books
- Apocalypses / Beatus
- Astronomy / Astrology
- Bestiaries
- Bibles / Gospels
- Chronicles / History / Law
- Geography / Maps
- Saints' Lives
- Islam / Oriental
- Judaism / Hebrew
- Single Leaf Collections
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Literature / Poetry
- Liturgical Manuscripts
- Medicine / Botany / Alchemy
- Music
- Mythology / Prophecies
- Psalters
- Other Religious Books
- Games / Hunting
- Private Devotion Books
- Other Genres
- Afghanistan
- Armenia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Colombia
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Egypt
- Ethiopia
- France
- Germany
- Hungary
- India
- Iran
- Iraq
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Luxembourg
- Mexico
- Morocco
- Netherlands
- Peru
- Poland
- Portugal
- Serbia
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Syria
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uzbekistan
- Aboca Museum
- Akademie Verlag
- Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA)
- Aldo Ausilio Editore - Bottega d’Erasmo
- Alecto Historical Editions
- Alkuin Verlag
- Almqvist & Wiksell
- ARS
- Ars Magna
- ArtCodex
- AyN Ediciones
- Azimuth Editions
- Bärenreiter-Verlag
- Belser Verlag
- Belser Verlag / WK Wertkontor
- Bernardinum Wydawnictwo
- BiblioGemma
- Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vaticanstadt, Vaticanstadt)
- Bibliotheca Palatina Faksimile Verlag
- Bibliotheca Rara
- Boydell & Brewer
- Brepols Publishers
- British Library
- C. Weckesser
- Caixa Catalunya
- Canesi
- CAPSA, Ars Scriptoria
- Caratzas Brothers, Publishers
- Circulo Cientifico
- Club Bibliófilo Versol
- CM Editores
- Collegium Graphicum
- Collezione Apocrifa Da Vinci
- Comissão Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses
- Coron Verlag
- CTHS
- D. S. Brewer
- De Agostini/UTET
- De Schutter
- Deuschle & Stemmle
- Deutscher Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft
- DIAMM
- Droz
- E. Schreiber Graphische Kunstanstalten
- Ediciones Boreal
- Ediciones Grial
- Edilan
- Editalia
- Edition Leipzig
- Edition Libri Illustri
- Editiones Reales Sitios S. L.
- Éditions de l'Oiseau Lyre
- Editions Medicina Rara
- Editorial Casariego
- Editorial Mintzoa
- Editrice Antenore
- Edizioni Edison
- Egeria, S.L.
- Eikon Editores
- Electa
- Eos-Verlag
- ET&B
- Eugrammia Press
- Extraordinary Editions
- Facsimile Editions Ltd.
- Facsimilia Art & Edition Ebert KG
- Faksimile Verlag
- Folger Shakespeare Library
- Franco Cosimo Panini Editore
- Fundación Hullera Vasco-Leonesa
- G. Braziller
- Gebr. Mann Verlag
- Giovanni Domenico de Rossi
- Giunti Editore
- Graffiti
- Grafica European Center of Fine Arts
- Guido Pressler
- Guillermo Blazquez
- Helikon
- Henning Oppermann
- Herder Verlag
- Hes & De Graaf Publishers
- Hoepli
- Houghton Library
- Hugo Schmidt Verlag
- Idion Verlag
- Il Bulino, edizioni d'arte
- ILte
- Imago
- Insel Verlag
- Instituto de Estudios Altoaragoneses
- Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia
- Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana - Treccani
- Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato
- J. Thorbecke
- Jugoslavija
- Karl W. Hiersemann
- Kasper Straube
- Kaydeda Ediciones
- Kurt Wolff Verlag
- La Liberia dello Stato
- La Linea Editrice
- La Meta Editore
- Lambert Schneider
- Leo S. Olschki
- Les Incunables
- Libreria Musicale Italiana
- Lichtdruck
- Lumen Artis
- Lund Humphries
- M. Moleiro Editor
- Maison des Sciences de l'homme et de la société de Poitiers
- Manuscriptum
- Maruzen-Yushodo Co. Ltd.
- MASA
- McGraw-Hill
- Militos
- Millennium Liber
- Müller & Schindler
- National Library of Wales
- Nova Charta
- Odeon
- Orbis Mediaevalis
- Orbis Pictus
- Österreichische Staatsdruckerei
- Oxford University Press
- Parzellers Buchverlag
- Patrimonio Ediciones
- PIAF
- Plon-Nourrit et cie
- Prestel Verlag
- Princeton University Press
- Prisma Verlag
- Priuli & Verlucca, editori
- Pro Sport Verlag
- Propyläen Verlag
- Pytheas Books
- Quaternio Verlag Luzern
- Reales Sitios
- Reichert Verlag
- Riehn & Reusch
- Roberto Vattori Editore
- Rosenkilde and Bagger
- Roxburghe Club
- Salerno Editrice
- Sarajevo Svjetlost
- Schöck ArtPrint Kft.
- Scolar Press
- Scrinium
- Scripta Maneant
- Scriptorium
- Siloé, arte y bibliofilia
- SISMEL - Edizioni del Galluzzo
- Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología
- Stainer and Bell
- Styria Verlag
- Sumptibus Pragopress
- Szegedi Tudomànyegyetem
- Tarshish Books
- Taschen
- Tempus Libri
- Testimonio Compañía Editorial
- The Clear Vue Publishing Partnership Limited
- The Facsimile Codex
- The Folio Society
- The Marquess of Normanby
- The Richard III and Yorkist History Trust
- Tip.Le.Co
- TouchArt
- Trident Editore
- Typis Regiae Officinae Polygraphicae
- University of California Press
- University of Chicago Press
- Urs Graf
- Vallecchi
- Van Wijnen
- VCH, Acta Humaniora
- VDI Verlag
- Verlag Styria
- Vicent Garcia Editores
- Wiener Mechitharisten-Congregation (Wien, Österreich)
- Xuntanza Editorial
- Zollikofer AG