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Historiated initial: Marlay cutting Z. 4c

An image of Cutting (manuscript)

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Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

Historiated initial

Entities

Categories

Description

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Parchment, 110 x 120 mm, image within initial 90 x 63 mm. Made up of an image painted onto re-used pieces of parchment taken from the borders of a fifteenth-century manuscript and superimposed parchment sections containing the halos, the letters, and their gold backgrounds.

DECORATION: Historaited initial in pink with acanthus extensions on gold ground, images within letter on blue ground: [O] Bust of a prophet holding a blank scroll.

Notes

History note: Thomas Miller Whitehead, acquired in June 1855 (ownership inscription on reverse)

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

15th Century, Late-19th Century
Circa 1475 CE - Circa 1499 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: Marlay cutting Z. 4c
Primary reference Number: 181286
Project ID: 1429
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Wednesday 2 September 2020 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

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

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Historiated initial" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/181286 Accessed: 2025-12-05 07:56:21

Citation for Wikipedia

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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/181286 |title=Historiated initial |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 07:56:21|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/portfolio/F25982D9_7CB9_CFFF_028E_8BBFC531887C/659/985/large_Marlay_cutting_Z__4c_mas.jpg"
        alt="Historiated initial"
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        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Historiated initial</figcaption>
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