Description
The vine-scrolls adorning this letter "P" spiral so hypnotically, one might overlook the blue dragons head in the upper part of the letterform and the profile human face emerging from a leaf at the tip of the letters tail.
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.