Where do Foliate Borders Come From? (Mmm… Marginalia #56)

Ever wonder how the elaborate decorative borders in medieval manuscripts are made? This image from Mainz Stadtbibliothek MS 33, a 15th-century breviary, has an answer:


Why, it’s monkeys, of course! Clever, nimble, hard-working monkeys gather up the blue and red vegetable bits and pin them carefully to the manuscript’s borders.

Monkeys–is there anything they can’t do?

Note: Now that I’ve reposted the Mario post I guess you’ve lucked out and gotten to see next week’s Mmm… Marginalia a week early.
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