The Art of Illumination

Belles Heures of Jean de France, duc de Berry, 1405–1408/9. Herman, Paul, and Jean de Limbourg (Franco-Netherlandish, active in France by 1399–1416). French; Made in Paris. Ink, tempera, and gold leaf on vellum; 9 3/8 x 6 5/8 in. (23.8 x 16.8 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Cloisters Collection, 1954 (54.1.1).

Calendar Pages
September: Treading Grapes, Libra, Folio 10r

An almost naked man tramples grapes in a large wood vat as his coworker empties a basket of grapes. The elegant lady below holds the scales of Libra, with a background exactly balanced between green and gold. Look closely at that gold: it is finely punched in a scrolling foliate pattern.

See The Medieval Garden Enclosed for more about this calendar page.