Medieval Manuscript Pillow

A beautiful floral manuscript border on a pillow is the home decor item you never knew you needed! This colorful canvas pillow features details from two pages in a Book of Hours in the Morgan Library & Museum’s collection. The pillow is double-sided featuring the two differing details from the manuscript.

Pulled from the calendar pages of a Book of Hours, virtue and vice are juxtaposed. Avarice, on the left page, is personified as a man using a balance to establish the value of gold coins scattered on the table. That his intentions are evil is confirmed by a bug-eyed demon who points to the coins. At the top of the facing page, Charity generously pours her coins from the box she holds. Scenes in the lower borders show the Creation of Adam and Eve, and the traditional labor for June: mowing, raking, and baling hay, all surrounded by ornate floral borders as depicted on the pillow.

This pillow is a product made to complement the exhibition Medieval Money, Merchants and Morality on view at the Morgan Library & Museum November 10, 2023 through March 10, 2024.