Physical Description
Description and Contents
Parchment, i paper flyleaf glued onto silk + iv contemporary parchment flyleaves (foliated ii-v) + 185 fols. + i contemporary parchment flyleaf + i paper flyleaf glued onto silk, 196 x 132 mm (102 x 60 mm), 20 long lines, ruled in pink ink, one leaf lost before fol. 36. The main text is written in iron-gall ink and the rubrics in a red organic colourant.
Strewn-flower border panel
The Fitzwilliam Hours includes a wide range of borders, a veritable gallery of the formats and styles admired across the Latin West around 1500. The majority showcase the hallmark of Flemish illumination since the 1480s, the panels of liquid gold or solid colours, occasionally compartmentalised, that serve as the backdrop for flowers, plants, insects and birds painted as if scattered across the surface and casting their shadows upon it.