Scriptorium – working on the scroll for the “Rose Tournament” at Gulf Wars .1

…and finally, after finishing the two scrolls which were on my to-do list, as well as the artwork for the vigil book for my husbands knighting, I am able to catch some breath again. And it’s definitely time to show you more of the progress that I made concerning my most recent projects. Well, at least the progress of the projects which don’t need to remain secret until they’ve reached their recipient at war… 😉

In todays posting I am going to show you an update concerning the scroll for the winner of the rose tournament, which will be held at Gulf Wars. I’ve already posted about my very first progress concerning this scroll here: “Scriptorium – working on the scroll for the “Rose Tournament” at Gulf Wars and some new blank scrolls…”  

…and now let us take a look at the finished initial and the calligraphy for the scroll and how all of it is slowly coming together:

The artwork depicting the ladies, which is situated in the top part of the scroll, was inspired by the Codex Manesse. And though it might not appear like it, the predominant”K” initial underneath the ladies was also inspired by the Manesse. I have to admit that, until this very project, I actually never paid much attention to the text parts of the Codex Manesse. However, I found that the initials of the Manesse text are definitely worth while as they contain some beautiful pen work.

And now let us take a closer look at the new progress – enjoy! 😀

The picture above shows a close up of the artwork, the initial and the calligraphy I’ve done so far for this scroll. Though I am quite a fan of 14th century artwork, I couldn’t get myself to do the hand which normally goes with this period and cheated a little. Well, yes, I admit that I used my “normal” Batarde/Bastarda hand – just not going as heavy on the flourishes as I normally do…

This all will become much more clear when you take a look at the next picture, that not only shows you an example of the two initials which I kinda “married” together to create a a period looking “K” initial for my scroll text but it also shows the hand which was actually used for the Codex Manesse:

And now let’s take a closer look at the “K” initial and all the pen work:

Btw., if you would like to discover the artwork of the Codex Manesse by yourself now, you can find the whole Codex online on the website of the “Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg“:

Große Heidelberger Liederhandschrift (Codex Manesse)

And the Codex Manesse is not only a great inspiration for everyone who is interested into period artwork for scrolls and calligraphy projects – it can also be used as a great source of inspiration for embroidery and other embellishment projects, like painting boxes, furniture,… Yeah, the possibilities are only limited by your personal imagination. 🙂 

I hope you enjoyed to see the new progress for the rose tournament scroll and I’ll post more progress pictures as soon as possible. 😀