2. Mind the Mise-en-Page

Ruling

Notice the specific layout of the page created by the red lines (ruling). The leaves of this manuscript were produced with a distinctive ruling layout giving the leaves a distinct "framework." The number of lines per leaf (nine lines of text and nine lines of four stave musical notation) also provide an important indicator for whether leaves potentially derive from the same manuscript. 

The ruling in the extant leaves is drawn in red ink and is comprised of horizontal lines delineating the uppermost line of the first musical stave, the line below the first row of text, the lines above and below the fifth line of text, and the uppermost line of the last (ninth) musical stave and the line below the ninth (and final) row of text. Two vertical lines delineate the left and right margins of the text. The verso of each leaf includes scribal foliation written within the middle ruling lines in red. This distinctive ruling strongly supports that several dispersed leaves sold at auction over the past several decades originate from the same manuscript. The one crucial difference being that the Crucifixion leaf is ruled in black ink. This difference, along with the foliation number, suggests the contemporaneous creation of a two-volume set for the same community. Given the consistency in ruling, folio size, page layout (nine lines of text and music), and precious decorative scheme, a common commission seems likely; however, different (albeit related) scribes and illuminators completed the two volumes.

Pricking

Pricking is visible on the outer edge of the folio (as the leaf was cut from its binding, it is impossible to determine whether pricking was also present on the bound side of the parchment). Pricking is also visible above the illuminated initial, which likely indicates a cloth guard was originally present to protect the illuminated initial. Almost identical pricking is present above the historiated initials in the related leaves sold in other auctions, including the initial on CVII depicting the Resurrection, CXXI depicting the Ascension, LXVIII depicting the Crucifixion, and the leaves for which foliation is unknown depicting the Nativity, Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem, Pentecost, and St. Peter Escaping Prison.