Single Leaf from a Bible: Initial E[t factum est] with Jonah Swallowed by the Whale
Unknown Artist
c. 1290
![Single Leaf from a Bible: Initial E[t factum est] with Jonah Swallowed by the Whale by Unknown Artist](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.artheonmuseum.org%2Fcleveland%2Fthumb%2Fsingle-leaf-from-a-bible-initial-e-t-factum-est-with-cleveland-135735.webp&w=3840&q=75)
Medium
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum
Dimensions
26.7 × 40.3 cm
Classification
Manuscript
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
The Harold T. Clark Educational Extension Fund
Accession Number
1959.271
About this artwork
This leaf and the bifolium (double-leaf) displayed to the right both come from the same manuscript: a large lectern bible. The decorative scheme consists of a single historiated initial and spiky ivy-leaf tendrils along the margins, a Parisian convention just developing at this time. These "ascenders" and "descenders" originate from two of the initials and meander along the margins as separators and framing devices for the text. This ivy-leaf motif dominated book illumination in Paris through th...