John de Pabenham and Joan Clifford of Frampton
Owners
John de Pabenham of Favenham, Bedfordshire (d. 1331) and Joan Clifford of Frampton, Gloucestershire.
He is depicted wearing chainmail and a surcoat emblazoned with his arms: barry of six argent and azure, on a bend gules three molets or (fols. 2v, 3r, 28v, 55v). She is shown in a gown emblazoned with her arms: checky or and azure, on a bend gules three lions passant argent (fols. 2v, 3r, 28v, 29r, 55v).
Historiated initial D with the Enthroned Virgin and Child (Hours of the Virgin, Matins)
The three-dimensional modelling of the Virgin Mary’s garments, with their multiple folds, distinguishes this initial from the more linear treatment of other draperies in the manuscript and suggests that this image was painted by a different artist. The materials employed also set this initial apart. These include coarser pigment particles (hotspot 1), a darkened organic shading on the Virgin’s mantle (hotspot 2), flesh tones containing lead white but no gypsum, and the use of shell gold for the decoration painted over the gilded background (hotspot 3). The border contains some pigments not found in the miniature: an organic red, used to obtain a red hue (hotspot 4) and a yellow arsenic sulphide pigment used in the wing of a bird (hotspot 5).