Initial "P" (Paulus vinctus)

Description Abstract designs in compartments adorn the shaft of this letter "P." Two profile dragons heads emerge from the top of the shaft, so that this part of the letter resembles the capital of a Romanesque column. The dragon on the right bites or disgorges a spiraling vine-scroll, one of the tendrils of which terminates in a profile human head.

Exhibitions

• The Saint John's Bible: A Modern Vision through Medieval Methods. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2009.

Provenance Priory scriptorium of Rochester Cathedral, England, 12th century [possible reference in catalog in Textus Roffensis, Rochester Cathedral Library Ms. A.3.5, fol. 230r; more certain reference in 1202 library catalog in British Library Ms. Royal 5 B.XII, fol. 2r]; Leon Gruel, Paris, before 1931 [mode of acquisition unknown, no. 1138]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, before 1931, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters