Teeming with life, this intricate letter B serves as the frontispiece for a deluxe book of the Psalms, possibly created for King Edward I of England (1239–1307). A tree sprouts out of the recumbent figure of Jesse at lower center and grows straight upward, bearing his descendants: King David, the Virgin Mary, and, at the top, Christ. On the right side of the B, amid prophets, evangelists, and Creation scenes, four camouflage leaf men climb cautiously through the entangled vine scrolls. These curious human-vegetal hybrids help animate the letter and provide a moment of delight for those who find them.
Beatus Initial with Tree of Jesse from The Windmill Psalter, England, possibly London, ca. 1280–1300. MS M.102, fol. 1v. Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1902.