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Historiated initial mounted within a roundel with medallion scenes: MS 269-1949

An image of Cutting (manuscript)

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Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

Historiated initial mounted within a roundel with medallion scenes

Entities

Categories

Description

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Parchment, diameter of roundel 145 mm, diameter of initial 60 mm, both pasted on cardboard.

DECORATION: Historiated initial [probably O] enclosing the half-length figure of a hermit saint, possibly St John the Baptist.

Marble ground roundel containing the emblems of the Passion (Judas’s hand with pieces of silver, chalice or ointment jar, dice, lantern, seamless robe, head of one of Christ’s mockers, hammer and pincers, whip lashers, cockerel, Flagellation column with Crown of Thorns, scourges, nails, cross, Veronica’s sudarium, heads of St Peter and a serving maid, Christ’s crucified hand, lance and sponge) and eight medallions with miniatures in grisaille (from top left down and around): St Mary of Egypt or St Mary Magdalene, St Paul the first hermit, St Alexius as a pilgrim lying beneath stairs while a servant pours slops down on him, St Jerome in penitence before crucifix with the lion beside him, Mocking of Christ, Flagellation, Carrying of the Cross, Crucifixion.

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1949) by Dew-Smith, Mrs Alice

Dating

15th Century, Late
Circa 1490 CE - Circa 1500 CE

People, subjects and objects depicted

Project

  • Cambridge Illuminated

Materials used in production

Gold

Components of the work

Support composed of parchment

Techniques used in production

Illumination

References and bibliographic entries

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: MS 269-1949
Primary reference Number: 176494
Project ID: 3551
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Monday 4 January 2021 Last processed: Thursday 14 August 2025

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Manuscripts and Printed Books

Citation for print

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The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Historiated initial mounted within a roundel with medallion scenes" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/176494 Accessed: 2025-12-05 20:16:39

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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/176494 |title=Historiated initial mounted within a roundel with medallion scenes |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 20:16:39|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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