Gripla - 20.12.2017, Page 174

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aged at this point, nor is a new gathering initiated here. In addition, the
ornamental repertoire used for minor initials in this production unit for
the most part matches the previous section, featuring a similar colour pat-
tern, palmettes and other romanesque floral forms. finally, oxidation also
appears in this section. these features of the book painting therefore sug-
gest the work of the same artist. the book painting of the two production
units is unlikely to have been executed before c. 1300, when the second
production unit was finished. GKS 1157 fol. is clearly not the only work of
a Kri 2, however, since similar palmette embellishments appear again in
the Heimskringla fragment Lbs fragm 82 (Kringla, see fig. 3), which was
written by H Kri 1 in between the creation of the two manuscript produc-
tion units of GKS 1157 fol.
the work of a Kri 2 is also found throughout the contemporaneous
Grágás manuscript aM 334 fol. Similar to GKS 1157 fol., aM 334 fol. com-
prises two production units.11 The first section features Grágás exclusively
and was written by the main hand of the group more than twenty years
after the first production unit of GKS 1157 fol. the second production
unit of AM 334 fol. features only Járnsíða and was added contemporane-
ously by the third main scribe of the Kringla group, H Kri 3. apart from
the aforementioned embellishments of minor initials made by illumina-
tor a Kri 2, this first production unit of aM 334 fol. includes the work
of the previously mentioned artist a Kri 1. this illuminator contributed
six elaborated major initials to the first production unit, all of which are
possibly the most ornate illuminations to survive from thirteenth-century
Iceland.12 the initials consist of pierced letter shapes in green and red
which are entwined with thick spiralling stems with leafy terminals and
shoots (f. 1r, fig. 4). all of these main initials feature a restricted colour pal-
ette: the backgrounds are painted in green and framed with a thin blue line,
and the bowl of the initial is coloured in a similar light blue. the spiralling
tendrils with fan leaves are outlined in black but red strokes in the stems
generate a slightly naturalistic effect. When the first main initial in GKS
1157 fol. (fig. 1) is compared with those in aM 334 fol., similarities suggest
11 technically, aM 334 fol. consists of three production units, since a later scribe, H Kri 4,
added parts of Jónsbók to f. 1r in c. 1300. Since this addition is not closely related to the
other two production units, it will not be discussed further.
12 for the position and size of the major initials in aM 334 fol. see Lena rohrbach, “Matrix
of the Law?” 106.