Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts

Martyrology and rule of St. Benedict
Germany, Mönchengladbach, ca. 1140-1155
MS M.563 fol. 40v

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Christ: Nativity -- Joseph the Carpenter, nimbed, with head resting on left hand, sits beside Virgin Mary, decorated nimbus, veiled, reclining on bed before Christ Child, cross-nimbed, swaddled, lying in architectural manger, over edge of which peer ox and ass.
Scene framed by abbreviated architecture comprising two towers, crenellated wall and central dome, from which curtain is suspended.
Below, animal mask and foliate ornament in initial I.