[133] It is supposed that the book was at first intended as a marriage gift for Alphonso, son of Edward I.
[134] The characteristic over and under arrangement of the gryphon’s upper and lower bill, makes this doubtful.
[PLATE XVI.]—Italian Fourteenth-century MS., Brit. Mus., Addl. MS. 28841.
THE VOLUME: one of two (the other numbered 27695), a Latin treatise on the Virtues and Vices (The miniatures, drawings, &c., probably by “the Monk of Hyères,” Genoa). The vellum leaves have been separated, and are now preserved in paper books. The leaf illustrated shows a margin of vellum of less than 316 inch all round (the plate).
The decorative borders are much more naturalistic in [p428] form and colouring than any other old illumination that I have seen (see reference to [Plate XVI.], p. [203]).
The foliage is a delicate green, the berries are dark purple, the single fruits plain and pale orange-red; the two beetles in crimson and brown are made darker and too prominent in the photograph. The bands of small “Lombardic” Capitals are in burnished gold.
Note how skilfully and naturally the upper corners of the border are managed, and also the beautiful way in which the branches run into and among the text (see p. [213]).
[PLATE XVII.]—French Fifteenth-century Writing, with Illuminated Borders. Ex libris E. Johnston.
THE PAGE 912 inches by 618 inches: MARGINS, approx.: Inner 118 inch, Head 138 inch, Side 238 inches, Foot 278 inches (the edges have been slightly cut down). The marginal lines (from head to foot of the page) and the writing lines are RULED in faint red.
THE WRITING is a late formal “Gothic”—the thin strokes have evidently been added (p. [47]). The written Capitals are blotted with yellow (see p. [140]). The ILLUMINATED INITIAL Q is in blue, white lined, on a gold ground, contains a blue flower and five ornaments in “lake.” The LINE-FILLINGS are in blue and “lake,” separated by a gold circle, triangle, or lozenge.