Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta
MS. 20, Folio 126 & 127
Me with Trian about to go out on an adventure.
What is this and Why am I doing this?
This is a scroll of high merit for a good friend of mine, Ibrahim Al-Rashid.
This scroll has been sponsored by Trian O'Bruadair, formerly of the East Kingdom, now living in Atlantia. A sponsorship is like a commission, and involves the exchange of real money. He has decided to sponsor the creation of this scroll because he's never sponsored one, he wanted to help out in the East Kingdom, and he wanted to see what I could make with Perg- which he knows that I hate. I also allow the sponsor to make 1 or 2 requests for the project. Common requests that I've received from sponsors were to use a specific color palette, draw hidden Mickeys, or to recreate a scroll from a particular plate. His was just to keep it as close to the extant as possible.
The Perks of Sponsorship: In exchange for sponsorship, he gets a special mention on this page, his sponsorship is watermarked on the final copy and it gets listed on the back of the scroll. He also gets the chance to preview this page before anyone else does. Plus, he gets a shout out throughout the page.
The Extant: MS 20, Folio 127 "Toadflax"
Title: Toadflax
Artist/Maker: Joris Hoefnagel (Flemish / Hungarian, 1542 - 1600) and Georg Bocskay (Hungarian, died 1575)
Date: 1561–1562; illumination added 1591–1596
Medium: Watercolors, gold and silver paint, and ink
Dimensions:
Leaf: 16.6 × 12.4 cm (6 9/16 × 4 7/8 in.)
Place: Vienna, Austria (Place Created)
Culture: Flemish and Hungarian
Object Number: Ms. 20 (86.MV.527), fol. 127
Alternate Titles: Mira calligraphiae monumenta (Group Title)
Department: Manuscripts
Classification: Manuscript
Object Type: Folio
Alternate Numbers: 86.MV.527.127 (Object Number); Ms. 20, fol. 127 (Manuscript Number)
The Extant: MS 20, Folio 126 "Trompe l'Oeil Stem of Basil Thyme"
Title: Trompe l'Oeil Stem of Basil Thyme
Artist/Maker: Joris Hoefnagel (Flemish / Hungarian, 1542 - 1600) and Georg Bocskay (Hungarian, died 1575)
Date: 1561–1562; illumination added 1591–1596
Medium: Watercolors, gold and silver paint, and ink
Dimensions:
Leaf: 16.6 × 12.4 cm (6 9/16 × 4 7/8 in.)
Place: Vienna, Austria (Place Created)
Culture: Flemish and Hungarian
Object Number: Ms. 20 (86.MV.527), fol. 126v
Alternate Titles: Mira calligraphiae monumenta (Group Title)
Department: Manuscripts
Classification: Manuscript
Object Type: Folio
Alternate Numbers: 86.MV.527.126v (Object Number); Ms. 20, fol. 126v (Manuscript Number)
Materials Used:
Pergmenta paper
Supposedly, the closest material to the look of 'parchment'. Found here at John Neal Bookseller.
A4 computer paper for sketching
Light table
I do most of my scribal work at night, the light table illuminates my entire drawing surface
A laser photocopier
Any photocopier will do, I just happen to have a laser one at work
Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolor
The Getty Museum said it's watercolor, so therefore watercolor was used.
Fountain pen and archival ink
Iron gall ink was typically used, I used this particular ink because it flowed a lot better than my Bombay India Ink. This is an important quality to have when writing small letters. Modern inks tend to clog my dip pens very quickly, and it requires frequent breaks and pauses to clean off the pen.
Pencil and eraser
A t-square ruler
Pigment pens in various colors
Pigment pens are less prone to feathering on Perg than paint, making it the ideal tool to use for this project. If this project was on vellum, I would be using paint or iron gall ink.
I used them to help draw the connectors between the large letters on top, and in the shadows on the flowers on the bottom.
Dr.Ph. Martin Calligraphy Colors in 11R copper plate gold
This color ink best resembled the extant among my vast collection of paints and inks. This ink was chosen because it was visually similar to the extant. The Getty museum says that the extant is made with gold paint, likely shell gold (powdered gold mixed with a binder).
I suspect that the extant used a gold/copper alloy because of the color of the gold. It has a bit of an orange tint to it when compared to pure gold.
Bombay India Ink
Iron gall ink would have been used in period, this modern variation was used because it was what I had on hand.
Total time spent on project: 13 hours, 45 minutes (ish)
I don't know how to log in my time for this project because I started and stopped quite a bit.
FAQ: What is Pergamenata paper?
Pergamenta paper is "as close as you can get to the real deal of aged parchment." It also goes to say that it's a translucent 100% sulphite, neutral pH paper, with the crisp snap, mottled look and hard feel you would expect from an actual sheet of animal parchment.
As a parchment artist who works primarily in vellum, I can confidentially attest that it does not.
Pergamenta has a different texture from parchment that is hard to describe. It's almost like trying to write and paint on rocks, if that can be imagined. The paper does not take well to paint, and it will start to warp and bend Parchment is skin, and behaves differently to water.
Do I think it's worth it? For me, no. I prefer the look and feel of the real thing.
But others may find it helpful.
English Words by Lord Julius Gautieri
Greeting The court hears the cry of the crown and answers in kind, Ibrahim al-Rashid is one who has received this call many times before and has answered each time! A most deserved master of all things Spaniard, who continues to exemplify his mastery via branching to new forms of his Spanish knowledge. A servant of the blade, he has dedicated time and effort to studying Destrezan manuals and following them with the utmost degree of safety and care. As wise, patient, and deadly as a viper ready to strike, Ibrahim al-Rashid is nothing short of a leader, a killer, a servant to the blade, and of course a servant to the crown. He stands as a shimmering jewel to his Canton, his Crown Province, his Kingdom and indeed the whole Known World. Let all know that Ibrahim has brought new blood and spilled old for the fencing community of the East Kingdom.
It is thus that we King Matthias and Queen Feilinn cloak this master in most resplendent or and invite him to join our most noble order of the Golden Rapier.
Done by our hands this 18th day of November, Anno Societatis LVIII, at 100 Minutes War.
Latin Translation
Salvete ab magna Rex Matthia et Regina Feilinn regni orientalis erga Ibrahim al-Rashid, laurea et magistri gladii noster.
Honorablis Hispanus et discipulus La Verdadera Destreza fidelis sed, cave Ibrahim, ut sapiens, patiens, mortiferum ut vipera ad percutiendum paratus.
Ipse est quasi gemma corusca suo cantono, regno, et noto orbe.
Mandatu Rex et Regina, Ibrahim inductus nobilissimum Golden Rapier ordinem.
Datum per manus nostras hoc die Anno Societatis LVIII, tempore belli C Minutis.
In Progress - 11/4/2023 8:44 PM
This is me with a test strip of vellum I saved from another project. I keep this strip on hand in case I want to test out certain inks. I also keep it around to monitor ambient humidity. Specifically, if it starts to curl, then it's too humid. Consider securing the perg down to the board instead of leaving it free-floating.
I prefer to keep my perg/paper/vellum unsecured to my board so I can control the flow of ink better. But sometimes, the weather just makes you tack everything down.
In Progress - 11/4/2023 9:02 PM
These are my guide lines for the letters.
In Progress - 11/4/2023 9:12 PM
In Progress - 11/4/2023 11:55 PM
Remember what I said about the page curling in humidity? Look at the other photos from earlier that evening. You can almost see the atmospheric humidity levels change.
In Progress - 11/5/2023 12:30 AM
In Progress - 11/5/2023 12:52 AM
In Progress - 11/5/2023 1:09 AM
In Progress - 11/5/2023 1:21 AM
Yup, very humid.
At this point, I decided to take a break from attempting to fight with my curling page and focus on the smaller calligraphy on the bottom of the page. I secured the page down to my art board with clips.
In Progress - 11/5/2023 2:39 AM
This smaller part of text is a departure from the period hand. The hand used in the extant is italic. I have a lot of difficulty with that hand and maintaining consistency with it. I was very irregular with my slanting on my test page, and I wasn't comfortable moving forward on this assignment with it.
In Progress - 11/5/2023 7:56 PM
I finally gave up and taped the whole thing down to my board to start painting in the flowers.
In Progress - 11/5/2023 9:28 PM
Such a small paintbrush
Teeny, Tiny Brush to on the Liner
In Progress - 11/5/2023 10:31 PM
In Progress - 11/5/2023 11:17 PM
Special thanks to Master Patris de Terra Lepori for his assistance
I was undecided with how I wanted to place the Order of the Golden Rapier's "skewer kitty" on the page. Exasperated, I asked Patrick for his thoughts. I sent him a copy of the extant, and he came up with this on GIMP. He sent over both ideas to me to look at.
While it did look nice on the computer rendering, practice attempts yielded less-than-stellar results.
Simply put, I felt that it looked too "modern" with my attempts. I attempted to recreate the practice sheets at work, and it looked more like a bad Magic Eye than a cohesive design.
Instead, I decided to keep the gold work as close to the extant as possible, and to freehand the design.
Easier said than done...
Order of the Golden Rapier Badge
This was a photo of a pin that I found
Special thanks to Baroness Christel Leake OP, OL for her assistance
I can't stress the importance of how much work this person added into this project. I contacted her in the middle of the night because I couldn't make out the gold work in this piece. She painstakingly recreated it, as best as she could, on a cell phone then texted it back to me.
I didn't end up copying all of the elements down on the page, but I did keep the big trumpets there.
In Progress - 11/8/2023 9:13 PM
In Progress - 11/8/2023 9:59 PM
I made a bunch of photocopies of my scroll at work so I could draw over it and experiment without risking the scroll.
In Progress - 11/10/2023 11:43 PM
In Progress - 11/11/2023 12:13 AM
Before
I showed this page to Christel, she felt that the cadel was too busy.
After
I scraped off the excess around the cadel to let it "breathe" a bit more.
Finished! - 11/11/2023 12:55 AM
Commentary from Mistress Raziya bint Rusa - Laurel on Plants
Mangled Plants: I didn't quite realize that it was mangled. I guess I can see it.
On fresh leaves: I suppose. I may have painted mine too yellow, which may indicate a nitrogen deficiency or a wilted plant.
Dually noted on all points, I will need to practice the technique of the ultra fine shading. I may need to look at other techniques. I think that this may have some silver point under the painting, which was a common technique at the time.
The Image Sent to Laurel for Review
Image sent to her for comparison and discussion. The bottom is the extant.
Departures from Period Technique
I used Bombay black India Ink
Extant would have used oak gall ink. I used this type of ink because I wanted an ink that was archival, light proof, and fadeproof. This is different from period ink because it may have some shellac dissolved in the ink
My scroll is painted in water color paints made by Winsor & Newton mixed with a proteinaceous binder in some parts.
Extant paints would be made out of a combination of mineral pigments and binders. More detailed explanation on period paint compositions can be read here. The TL;DR version is as follows:
Blue paints are likely ground azurite and copper oxide
Clear/white paint is made out of glair and calcium carbonate. Other variations can use zinc or lead white
Green paint is a combination of copper and copper-chlorine resinate
Red/brown paint can be made out of a combination of hematite, iron sulfide, lead sulfide and palmierite (lead-potassium-sulfur) compound
Black ink is iron gall ink, and was typically used for both calligraphy and sketching
I drew the outline of the flowers in before completing the calligraphy. The extant had the calligraphy completed decades before the illumination was added at a later time. I started to sketch in the flowers to save time and to help me with establishing the layout of the page.
The scroll was completed in graphite pencil instead of silver point. I simply didn't have a silverpoint or a metal point pen to do the illustration. It may be worth my while to invest in one for the future.
I used a fountain pen for some of my calligraphy, the period material would have been a quill , but metal nib pens were also available too- just less commonly used
I used modern archival ink for my larger calligraphy, but I needed a smaller nib for the delicate writing at the bottom.
Fountain pen was used because it was the best tool that I had available at the time to achieve the results that I wanted. I was having too much trouble with issues of clogging, clumping and overall underperforming with my smaller nibs that I felt that using them with my available ink wouldn't achieve the results that I wanted based off of failed test swatches earlier that day.
I used Micron pigment pens to cross hatch the shadows.
This was a deliberate choice because I was having limited success with attempting to cross hatch with my paint brush. I was becoming frustrated with the lack of paint my tiny brush was holding, and it kept producing jagged lines because I had to frequently stop to add more paint. This is something that I will need to look into at a later time. I suspect that the extant was crosshatched in ink versus watercolor. In the interest of time, I switched to Micron pen to produce the effect that I was looking for.
Things I Learned
Continue to work on adjusting my lighting quality to match the extant so it's easier to draw a visual reference between the two.
Copper/Gold alloys were common in period, and were used to produce a lot of things in period. This alloy was common in pre-Columbian cultures of South America. I'm curious to learn the history of this metal alloy in a future project, and how it could turn up in a Flemish/Hungarian manuscript