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Initial from a choir book: Marlay cutting It. 25

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Current Location: In storage

Titles

Initial from a choir book

Entities

Categories

Description

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Parchment, 263 x 260 mm, two musical staves ruled in red ink and two lines of fragmentary text ruled in pale brown ink on reverse, traces of paper mount with ink ruling.

CONTENTS: On reverse, fragmentary text from an antiphon at Matins for Advent, Veniet ecce rex. Eo[…] Alleluia. Evoyae; the initial may have introduced Ps. 1 (Beatus vir) and would have been on the verso of the original leaf.

DECORATION: Historiated initial in graded dark pink with scrolling foliate motifs in pink, blue and green on a ground of solid gold with painted foliage and flowers: [B] King David kneels in prayer, with his crown and psaltery beside him, in front of a colonnaded palace with city and mountains in the distance.

ORNAMENTATION: On reverse, two initials, the height of the gap between musical staves, in blue with red and blue foliate pen-flourishing, and red with blue and purple foliate pen-flourishing.

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1912) by Marlay, Charles Brinsley

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

Penwork
Illumination

References and bibliographic entries

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: Marlay cutting It. 25
Primary reference Number: 176546
Project ID: 1375

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Wednesday 3 December 2025

Associated departments & institutions

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

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Initial from a choir book" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/176546 Accessed: 2025-12-05 05:30:23

Citation for Wikipedia

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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/176546 |title=Initial from a choir book |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 05:30:23|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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