Notes on AoA scroll for Sharon Dunsmore

His Lordship François Thibault

29 January to 4 February, A.S. XXXIIII

Text:

Let all know that We, Andreas and Isabella, King and Queen fo the East, have heard much about the service of Our subject Sharon Dunmore. She has enhanced Our Shire of Montvale, both in the kitchen and as exchequer. In gratitude, We do award her these Arms:

(insert arms here...)

Done this Xth day of February, Anno Societatis XXXV, at King's and Queen's Bardic Champions, in Our Shire of Caer Adamant.

Errors

I was given the wrong name ("Dunmore" instead of "Dunsmore") and shire (Montvale instead of Caer Adamant). I found out maybe 15 minutes before Court--too late to fix it, but early enough to wince when I heard the herald correct it. So, I gave Lady Sharon my card, and she got the scroll back to me; it's now fixed.

One of the problems was that, though I've had to fix text before, I've never had to fix any substantial amount of illumination (changing the arms of Montvale to those of Caer Adamant). I was afraid to just cover it over, since Caer Adamant's arms are lighter. I experimented with scraping paint, but it didn't come out as well as ink. So, instead, I resorted to the very period practice of doing a miniature on a separate piece of paper, then gluing it down (with glair). Worked wonderfully--better than the text, really, which suffered from the problem that the new words take up more space than the old, so I had to squeeze them in.

The original version is still here, if you want to compare.

Construction notes:

• Paper: 9"x12" Aquarelle Arches Hot Press
• 2cm margins
• Calligraphy:
  • Hand: derived from Drogin's Gothic Littera Batarde. An attempt to be more authentic by using the actual letters from one of the examples Drogin shows (the ductus he gives for this hand doesn't match any of his examples). The example was from about 1450-1475. Still using his ductus for some letters which don't exist in the example.
  • Ink: Winsor & Newton Black Indian Ink
  • Nib: 1mm Brause
  • Line spacing: 5mm minim, 5mm each above and below
• Illumination:
  • The overall layout, the building, is loosely based on one I did before, which in turn was based on on a page from the Beaufort Hours (Royal MS 2 A. xviii, f. 11b; it's illustration #124 in Backhouse's The Illuminated Page, page 143).
  • The figure in the lower left window is working at a counting board, representing Lady Sharon's service as exchequer. The counting board was copied from a book done in about 1508, but I don't have the reference handy any more.
  • The figure in the lower right window is from British Museum MS. Reg. 10, E. iv. (reproduced in Take a Thousand Eggs or More, vol. one), representing Lady Sharon's service in the kitchen.
  • The birds flanking the royal signatures are a falcon (left) and a dove (right); taken from the imagery used in a song recently composed for Their Majesties by Baron Fum, in which the falcon represented Andreas and the dove represented Isabella.
  • The arms of the East and of Montvale are somewhat messy; I really need to get a smaller brush.
  • The flowers are from the Isabella Breviary (about 1492-1497, so within 50 years of the hand I'm imitating).
  • The musical instruments in the top row are because the award was given at Bardic Champions. The horns are just stylized (they probably derive more from the crossed horns on a herald's tabard than anything else); the drum is totally made up; but the mandolin and the harp are taken, again, from the Isabella Breviary.
  • Colors:
    • Red: Winsor & Newton Designer's Gouache (WNDG) Primary Red
    • Green: WNDG Mistletoe Green
    • Dark brown: WNDG Burnt Sienna
    • Light brown: WNDG Burnt Sienna mixed about 1:1 with WNDG Permanent White
    • Grey: WNDG Black mixed about 1:1 with WNDG Permanent White
    • Blue: WNDG Designer's Gouache Sky Blue
    • Yellow: Caran d'Ache Gouache Golden
    • Black: Speedball Black Indian Ink