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Historiated initial from Choir Books: Marlay cutting Fr. 15

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Titles

Historiated initial from Choir Books

Entities

Categories

Description

One of two historiated initials

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Parchment, 175 x 170 mm, two four-line musical staves ruled in red ink and three lines of fragmentary text

CONTENTS:
The initial E would have opened the Introit for the Mass at Epiphany, 'Ecce advenit dominator dominus', on the original verso of the leaf; the fragmentary text on the reverse (the original recto) includes the words 'et matrem', which form part of the Communion ('Tolle puerum et matrem eius') at the end of the Mass for the preceding feast, Christ’s Nativity.

DECORATION:
Historiated initials in blue, ornamented in white, on gold ground with blue, orange and green scrolling vine motifs in the four corners: E, Adoration of the Magi set in a portico with a receding landscape in the distance

Notes

History note: Commissioned by King Louis XII of France (1498-1515) and his consort, Anne of Brittany (1477-1514); Charles Brinsley Marlay (1831-1912); his bequest, 1912.

Legal notes

Bequeathed by Charles Brinsley Marlay

Measurements and weight

Height: 175 mm
Width: 170 mm

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

16th Century
Production date: circa AD 1500

People, subjects and objects depicted

Project

  • Cambridge Illuminated

Materials used in production

Pigments
Ink
Gold

Components of the work

Support composed of parchment

Techniques used in production

Illuminated manuscript

References and bibliographic entries

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: Marlay cutting Fr. 15
Primary reference Number: 209503
Project ID: 1357

Audit data

Created: Tuesday 1 November 2016 Updated: Tuesday 30 April 2024

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 from Choir Books" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/209503 Accessed: 2025-12-05 14:53:43

Citation for Wikipedia

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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/209503 |title=Historiated initial from Choir Books |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 14:53:43|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-209503

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        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/msspb/msspb17/Marlay_20cutting_20Fr_15_2_201106_mfj22_mas.jpg"
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