Medieval manuscripts

July from Walters W.425


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Walters W425 f. 7r calendar image for July
Walters W425 f. 7r calendar image for July

The two most common labors for July depicted in the calendar images of Books of Hours (and in psalters and prayerbooks like W.425), are mowing hay, and harvesting wheat with a scythe. This image from f. 7r of Walters Museum prayer book fragment W.425 shows a fairly typical scene of two men in a field reaping the wheat with scythes. The margin shows a medallion featuring a lion, the zodiac sign for Leo. I have no idea why there appears to be grid; the lines don’t appear thick enough to be stacks of mown hay.

This is another month with flowers in the border, and again, they are close to realistic in style.