Sheep
© The British Library Board 1998
A number of pages in the Psalter deal with the farming of the Luttrell estates, in particular with the ploughing, harrowing, seeding and harvesting of Sir Geoffrey's cornfields. This page shows the sheep which would have grazed in his meadows. In the illustration they are herded together in a wickerwork pen. Two people are in there with them: a woman who is milking one of the ewes, and a man who seems at first glance to be slaughtering one of the sheep. Closer inspection shows that the shepherd has a small flask attached to his wrist; it seems more likely that this is a medicine bottle, and that he is giving medication to a sick animal.
Sheep played an important part in the economy of the estate, providing food for the family and their guests - though rarely for the peasants, who would have lived mostly on cereals - and providing wool, which would have been woven undyed into cloth and made into clothes by the womenfolk. These 'homespun' garments would have been brownish-grey in colour, rather than the mauve and orange of the dresses worn by the two women standing next to the sheep pen. Perhaps the illustrator, intent on making beautiful pictures, chose to exaggerate the stylishness of their costumes.
Capitals
© The British Library Board 1998
A third of the way down the left-hand margin is a highly decorated letter 'D', the first letter of the word 'Domine' in the sentence 'Domine refugium factus es nobis a generatione in generationem' - 'O Lord you make us a refuge from generation to generation'. It could be that the sheep pen at the bottom of the page symbolises the refuge mentioned in the psalm.
Decoration
© The British Library Board 1998
Note how this page uses elaborate decoration in the form of leaves and (filling up the short 12th line) blue and yellow butterflies.
'Print Through'
© The British Library Board 1998
Because vellum is a very fine, almost transparent medium, the lettering and illumination are sometimes visible on the reverse side of the page. Page 163 verso is a good example of this: if you look at the top-left-hand corner of the page (above and to the left of the letter 'D') you can see a dark, bird-like shape: this is in fact a knight's helmet, beneath which are a pair of folded wings and a leaf design which curls down to the bottom of the page. Another botanical pattern can be seen running down the right-hand side of the page, ending in a cluster of leaves, visible through the parchment, behind the two women.
Monsters
© The British Library Board 1998
At the top-right-hand corner are two 'babewyns' or monsters, in the form of twinned human-headed dragons with their necks entwined. Their almost identical heads, painted with great care, suggest that this might have been a double portrait of someone known to the artist.
