Folio 1v - Creation of the waters and the firmament
Folio 2r - Creation of the birds and fishes
COMMENTARY
Text
Genesis 1:6-8.
Illustration
the Division of the Waters. God stands frontally in the centre of the picture wearing a red tunic and blue cloak. He does not have a beard. The gesture with his right hand emphatically sweeps beyond the circles. He holds a book in his left hand. Behind him are three circles decorated with various shades of blue semicircles. God's halo reaches to the top of the sky, represented by blue wavy lines. Below God are the turquoise ripples of the sea. The burnished gold background is contained within a frame. Two illustrations of the Creation sequence are missing, showing the the plants and trees and the creation of the moon and stars. They are represented by Ashmole 1511, f.5r and f.5v. Initial type 3
COMMENTARY
Text
Genesis 1:20-23.
Illustration
the Creation of Birds and Fishes. God stands in a three-quarters pose facing right. His right arm is raised and he looks down on his creation. He wears a blue tunic and red cloak and has no beard. He occupies nearly the full height of the picture. On the right are two compartments of birds, two of which extend beyond their frames. The birds in the top section are not easy to recognise but they are possibly sea birds. The black bird on the right swoops like a great skua. The large black bird with a long neck and beak is rather like a cormorant or shag, apart from its curled tail feathers and unwebbed feet. Below, the peacock can be identified but the lighter birds are not specific. Above the sea, a white stork holds a snake. The text on f.49 says correctly that storks eat snakes and there is an illustration of this in the fifth-century manuscript of Dioscorides (Cod.Vind.med. Gr. 1). The fish in the water include an eel or conger, a large one on the left with a big mouth, two salmon-like fish in the middle and at the top two small fish with large heads.The position of God standing above the waters, facing right with his right arm raised is found on a similar creation scene on the mosaics of the Palatine Chapel, Palermo. The triangular area around the fish is pricked for pouncing. Initial type 3.