Size:
Column picture painted on parchment
Height: 5 lines
Material and colors:
Parchment
Pink, red, green, blue, brown, black, gold leaf
Initial:
Pen-flourished initial "B" (2 lines) appears below the left side of the miniature.
Initial is colored in blue while the pen-flourished detail is in red.
Rubric:
Indented into the upper right side of the frame. Extending from the right margin of the text. Reads “Com[m]e[n]t raison casti lama[n]t”
Frame:
Gilded border with foliate gold leaves extending from the right and left sides of the frame into the margins.
Gilt frame is indented with a rubric on the upper right side. The rubric extends into the margin and in turn it is framed.
Background:
Diaper pattern background. Square and octagonal grid. White ink detail. Alternating dark blue and light blue squares. Alternating red and white circles within blue squares.
Placement of miniature:
Placement of miniature after textual description matches BMC, Ms 207, ÖBN Codex 2592, BNF, Ms. Fr. 380, PML, Ms. M. 324
Place of production of the miniature:
Paris, France. (?)
Date of production of the miniature:
End of the 14th century.
Similarities with other images from the corpus:
Lady Reason matches gesture depicted in all three miniatures from BNF, Ms. Fr. 12595 as well as gestures in PML, Ms. M. 324, ÖBN Codex 2592, BMC, Ms. 207, KBR 4782
Lover matches gesture depicted in PML, Ms. M. 324
Secondary sources :
Fleming, John V. The Roman de la Rose: a Study in Allegory and Iconography. Princeton UP, 1969.
-
Lady Reason typically thought of as a queen, represented with a crown and standing by or descending from her tower, a symbol of her exalted station and a reminder that she descends to aid man. Sometimes wears the scarf of 14th century Gothic Virgins (Fleming 113).
-
Reason shares the iconographical attributes of Lady Philosophy, kinship with Divine Sapience, or the Second Person of the Trinity in both Guillaume and Jean (Fleming 114).
Detailed manuscript information (based on Ernest Langlois, Les manuscrits du Roman de la rose. Description et classement, Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, 1974, p. 121-22 and Enluminures.
