On f. 19v, the main miniature features an indoor scene with a noble couple sitting at a table in the background surrounded by servants. Several men in the midway distance watch what is happening in the foreground where two servants holding torches can be seen on one side opposite several musicians playing a melody on a flute to the sound of a drum. Beside them is a jester or fool in the typical horned cap with bells and mock sceptre. In the foreground, the couple in the centre is about to start dancing.
The main scene is set in the background and concerns winter feasts or, bearing in mind the month being depicted, perhaps a feast related to carnival, as perhaps suggested by the image of another small jester painted in cameo fashion in a niche on the left of the border around the painting.
On f. 20r, above a medallion on the right is a cartouche with the word “pisces”. In the middle is a sea monster similar to a cetacean with a huge mouth, blowing water through its jaws and blowhole, in the centre of a body of water with a conventional landscape of small trees – bluish because of the overhead perspective – in the background. This totally imaginary and picturesque manner of depicting the zodiacal constellation differs from the more or less usual typology to be found in books of hours and other manuscripts.
The bas-de-page of the border surrounding the main scene and the text shows a series of children depicted in grisaille playing with a hoop. Some roll it with small sticks (f. 19v), others fight over it or incorporate a child running through it into the game, whilst others have stopped playing to urinate (f. 20r).
Carlos Miranda García-Tejedor Doctor in History
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