Psalter (book of psalms) formerly owned by Owen Jones
Dated between 1400 and 1424
Illuminated manuscript
National Art Library: MSL/1902/1683

Many of the plant forms found in the ‘Middle Ages’ chapter of The Grammar of Ornament were taken from medieval manuscripts. Jones owned a number of these manuscripts, including the early 15th-century book of psalms shown here which is now held in the V&A’s National Art Library.
In Victorian Britain, there was a revival in the medieval craft of illumination. An attempt to reawaken a lost heritage, this revival was dominated by a religious and social agenda. Jones, however, saw medieval manuscripts as a source for new directions in design and colour theory.