Picti - Clan Illuminations

Veritas Vincit
215mm. x 140mm.
(8.5 ins. x 5.6ins.)(
Ink and gouache on parchment.
Copyright James M. Summers 2000.

Veritas Vincit; Latin, Truth Conquers: The motto of the Clan Keith and incidentally the motto of my home town of Peterhead – a stronghold of the Keith family prior to the Jacobite uprising of 1715.
Veritas Vincit was commissioned by Keith family descendant Carl D. Pritchett of DeSoto, Texas, USA. It is essentially a spiral / knotwork letter contraction in the style of the Lindisfarne Gospels, but was designed to incorporate many symbolic historical references to the Clan Keith. These include the clan plant - white rose, clan crest – the roebuck, the horsemen – a reference to the Keiths leading the Scottish light horses at the Battle of Bannockburn and the coronet hidden in the tree of life – symbolising the Clan Keiths part in hiding and safeguarding the Crown Jewels of Scotland.
The equestrian figures within the hunt frieze are based on Pictish stone carvings at Edderton in Rosshire, Scotland.

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	Invicitus Maneo Ink and gouache on parchment. Copyright James M. Summers 1999. Invicitus Maneo; Latin, I Remain Unvanquished. The motto of the Clan Armstrong, commissioned to celebrate the ruby wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. A. Armstrong of Peterhead, Scotland. The Durrow, Lindesfarne and Kells manuscripts frequently used a 4th - 6th century straight line alphabet on a coloured ground as as illuminated decoration. While the early MSS used this device on single lines of illuminated text, the idea in this case was to use multiple lines of text within the profile of a lancet window. The concept being an attempt to create the form of a stained glass window with the text forming the tracery and the coloured panels representing the stained glass, the gold letters within the text being the initials of both recipients. The gouache paint was heavily diluted with gum arabic in the final application so the finished work has a rich enamelled appearance. This work was assuredly a stern test of my resolve as the temptation to abandon all artistic principles and employ a ruler or straight edge was very great however, I am very happy to report that the work was finally completed totally freehand with my integrity intact.
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Sinclair
260mm. x 170mm.
10.25ins. x 6.75ins.
Ink and gouache on parchment.
Copyright James M. Summers 2001.

The principal decoration for the Clan Sinclair illumination is a 6^th century compound letter contraction, in this case an argyll decorated animal zoomorph intertwined a knotwork letter I, with a majuscule text surmounting a tree of life with a Pictish knotwork margin and the clan name repeated at the bottom. The majuscule text being illuminated throughout with Sinclair tartan and argyll compartments, the Clan’s motto – Commit Thy Work To God – being written in minuscule script within the central illumination.

The symbolism within this work refers to the Sinclair family’s Earldom of Rosslyn and their hereditary links to Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh.

The tree of life bears blaeberries with flourishes of whin and maize which grows form the mouth of a green man wearing an acanthus leaf mask. The whin being the plant of the Clan Sinclair whereas the green man and maize are associated with Rosslyn Chapel where, uniquely in Scotland, they are used as architectural decoration. The green man used is adapted from an architectural feature in Bamberg Cathedral in Germany.

The choice of type of Pictish knotwork was again a symbolic reference to Rosslyn Chapel, in this case, I chose a knot that would, when completed, leave a relief croix pate, representing the Chapel’s links to the Order of the Knights Templar.

This artwork is a personal artistic first for myself, the use of a bold red as the principal colour, to complement the tartan and argyll compartments, instead of my usual favoured colours. It was with a great sense of trepidation that I applied the first layer of red paint to the initial letter, at this point I was completely unsure of what I was doing and not at all happy! Once I started to decorate the letter with the argyll pattern I began to relax a little as I could then see that the colour scheme was going to complement the design and not ruin it.

Aonaibh Ri Cheile
140mm. x 205mm.
5.6ins x 8.3ins.
Ink and gouache on parchment.
Copyright James M. Summers 2001.

Aonaibh Ri Cheile; Gaelic, Unite: The motto of the Clan Cameron, commissioned as a wedding present for Victoria Cameron of Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia.
An illumination in the style of the Book of Kells, with a tree of life bearing bluebells growing from a quaich. The tree of life supports a Knotwork letter C and an Argyll patterned letter A which frames two human zoomorphic figures adorned with one of the Clan Cameron tartans .

Marte et Arte.
65mm. x 205mm.
(2.7in. x 8.1in.)
Ink and gouache on parchment.
Copyright James M. Summers 1997.

Marte et Arte (Latin); Strength through art, despite its diminutive size, Marte et Arte with it's unusual use of celtic human figures as the singular form of decoration, still represents over eighty hours of painstaking work, as I decided to individually brush paint each figure with an authentic Scottish clan tartan! Despite being nearly demented by the time I had finished the tartan details, Marte et Arte remains a personal favourite of mine.

Luceo non Euro.
70mm. x 215mm.
(2.8in. x 8.5in.)
Ink and gouache on parchment.
Copyright James M. Summers 1999.

Luceo non Euro (Latin); I shine not burn. It seemed only fitting to illuminate the motto of the Clan MacKenzie with details and symbols apertaining to the clan. The Tree of Life, which is woven through the illumination ,bears stagshorn clubmoss -the Clan's plant badge-and the man wears a MacKenzie tartan plaid.The stag within the letter O and the legend Cuidich 'n Righ' are adapted from the Clan's Standard. The stag used in the illumination is adapted from a Pictish carved stone fragment found in Abernethy, Fife.

Pro Libertate.
315mm. x 430mm.
12.4in. x 16.9in.
Ink and gouache on parchment.
Copyright James M.Summers1996.

Pro Libertate ( Latin );For Liberty. The motto of the clan Wallace seemed a good starting point for a work which was to be displayed in an exhibition celebrating the 699th anniversary of William Wallace's victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. While the main work is illuminated with knotwork and a Tree of Life bearing thistles and bluebells, the bottom panel is decorated with the Wallace standard and crest and a Tree of Life bearing thistles and fructed oak (the Clan Wallace plant emblem ). The closing date for submissions meant that I didn't get much time to plan the layout of this work, with the benefit of hindsight I now feel that mixing the traditional elements of Celtic decoration with relatively modern heraldic symbolism was a lapse of judgment on my part.


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	Pro Libertate 294mm x 230mm 11.6ins. x 9.1ins Ink and gouache on parchment Copyright James McKenzie Summers 2001 Pro Libertate; Latin, For Liberty. The motto of the Clan Wallace illuminated in the style of the Book of Kells/Lindisfarne. The main knotwork and spiral illumination which forms the letters P and R required much planning and indeed, patience. This was especially true of the upper crossover between the letters P and R, where due to the letter forms, two different sizes and styles of Pictish knotwork bands had to both interconnect and pass through each other (see enlarged image detail I). I found this to be a technically challenging piece of design work, which after the initial relief of it all fitting together properly, I was very pleased with. The Tree of Life panel, which supports the letter O bears the plants of the Clan Wallace, oak leaves, acorns and thistles. The varied illuminated decoration used within the majuscule text include more Clan Wallace symbolic references, the strawberry leaf coronet, the broadsword and the Wallace tartan compartments in the letter B. The remaining decoration being Argyll pattern (a current obsession of mine which is clearly no longer under my control), compartments of red/gold diamonds decorated with gold/red cross flowers and of course one of my colophons, my favourite in fact, the salmon. I have to openly admit to being very pleased with the way this work turned out. On completion it was exactly as I had envisaged it during the preliminary draught and design stage, I also feel it that it presents a balanced combination of the requisite symbolism and authentic manuscript layout. The final stages of the colour application of this work were filmed by the BBC Education Department for use in their programme “The Picts and the Scots”.
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