Skip to main content

Historiated initial from an Antiphoner: Marlay cutting Z. 3

An image of Cutting (manuscript)
View image details

Terms of use

The low-resolution images published on this Website are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY-NC-ND). For more details: Fitzwilliam Terms of Use

This licence does not include any images of works that are still in copyright. Artistic copyright extends from the life of the artist to 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the artist died.

Download this image

For further information on use of images or to license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who can discuss terms and fees.

Current Location: In storage

Titles

Historiated initial from an Antiphoner

Maker(s)

Artist: Libri, Girolamo dai

Entities

Categories

Description

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Parchment, 170 x 173 mm, two fragmentary four-line musical staves ruled in red ink and two lines of fragmentary words on reverse, partially obscured by cardboard onto which they were mounted previously.

CONTENTS: Part of Psalm 109 and the antiphon for Matins for the Feast of the Conception of the Virgin (8 Dec.) on reverse: David. Ps[almus] Dixi[t dominus domino meo]…[con]ceptio est hodi[e]; the initial would have introduced the antiphon, Conceptio est hodie.

DECORATION: Historiated initial formed of pink acanthus with green and blue details on gold ground: [C, 2 ll.] St Anne seated on a stone bench within a landscape, the Virgin, dragon at her feet, seated on St Anne’s lap, and the Christ Child standing on the Virgin’s knee, holding an olive branch and blessing.

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

16th Century, second quarter
Circa 1540 CE - Circa 1550 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. 3
Primary reference Number: 178990
Project ID: 1428

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Tuesday 27 August 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 an Antiphoner" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/178990 Accessed: 2025-12-05 05:45:02

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/178990 |title=Historiated initial from an Antiphoner |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 05:45:02|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-178990

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:

<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/msspb/msspb3/Marlay_20Cutting_20Z__203.jpg"
        alt="Historiated initial from an Antiphoner"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Historiated initial from an Antiphoner</figcaption>
    </figure>
</div>

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...

University of Cambridge Museums logo
Cambridge City Council logo
Arts Council England Logo
Research England logo