Miniatures

The name comes from the Medieval Latin word miniatura, derived from minium, "red lead", because of this material having been used originally to illuminate manuscripts, an act that once was known as miniare. The term is used nowadays for pictures that are drawn on whole pages.

AM 371 fol.

The manuscript is a report from 1627 on Norwegian "antiquities", i.e. monuments. The report contains several coloured drawings and information on runestones and monuments with runic inscriptions written by Peder Alfsen, a cantor and lecturer at the learned school in Kristiania (Oslo) and doctor.

AM 371 fol., ff. 6v - 7r: Drawing of an embroidered antependium from Roman time. The altar cloth, now lost, was in an old deserted chapel in Bilden, Hageland.

AM 79 4to

A law manuscript from the end of the 16th century that contains a Danish translation of Magnus the Law-mender's national law (1274) and later royal ordinances (13th-16th c.). The title page is decorated with an imaginary coat of arms and opposite the dust cover is a coloured depiction of the vanitas motif "homo bulla" (man is a bubble).



AM 79 4to, f. 1r AM 79 4to, f. 1r, opposite side of the back dust cover. The picture is presumably a copy of the copper plate Qvis evadet? by the Dutch lithographer and painter Hendrick Goltzius.

AM 421 12mo

Marine Jespersdatter's prayer book from the beginning of the 16th century. The book contains in all 48 small miniatures that illustrate the prayers in the book.

AM 421 12mo, f. 16v  AM 421 12mo, f. 26v AM 421 12mo, f. 38v AM 421 12mo, f. 47v AM 421 12mo, f. 50v, christening of Jesus AM 421 12mo, f. 53v AM 421 12mo, f. 90v AM 421 12mo, f. 106v AM 421 12mo, f. 109v AM 421 12mo, f. 110v

AM 429 12mo 

A collection from around 1500 with legends of female martyrs in Icelandic. The manuscript is also known as Kirkjubæjarbók (the book from Kirkeby). The miniatures illustrate the saga of Holy Margaret and depict her execution and fight against the dragon.

AM 429 12mo, pp. 24-25
AM 429 12mo, p. 13 AM 429 12mo, p. 15 AM 429 12mo, p. 19

AM 233 a fol.

A collection of legends in Icelandic from around 1300.

AM 233 a fol., f. 1r

AM 249 d fol.

AM 249 d fol., f. 8v

AM 364 fol.

A travel book on Greenland from the end of the 17th century.

AM 364 fol., f. 9v AM 364 fol., f. 47r

AM 374 fol.

A manual in Low German on artillery from the later half of the 15th century.

AM 374 fol.
AM 374 fol., f. 46r AM 374 fol., f. 70r
AM 374 fol., f. 54v AM 374 fol., f. 63r