[Manuscript illumination: Major Initial and Border]
Collection:CSM Museum & Study Collection
Date: [late 13th century] - [early 14th century]
Dimensions:
Image: 390 x 270 mm (39 x 27 cm)
Sheet: 405 x 300 mm (40.5 x 30 cm)
Medium: Paint, (silver?) and gold leaf on parchment
Object number: F.31
DescriptionManuscript fragment, mounted on card. Major Initial 'B', in a faded pink/beige hue (probably much lighter than the original colour) on a blue rectilinear ground (gilt at the edges). This major initial would have been incorporated within a large border, a partial rectilinear border with cusped decoration in gold leaf. This border has actually been cut down from the original size. The border illumination also employs stylised ivy and golden 'dot' motifs; both of these decorative elements seem to suggest that the original manuscript was illuminated in Bologna, Northern Italy. The initial is also inhabited, by a choir of angels, and the blue and beige areas contain decorative overpainting in white (though this may have originally been silver).