A Hybrid Man Operating a Bellows

Jerome’s Psalter opens with four decorated initial letters (E, M, E and R) enclosing within them figures of hybrid men. The page is framed by horizontal borders in the upper and lower margins, populated by curious creatures and narrative scenes. In the upper section a fantastical animal with a beak and a rabbit can be distinguished. The latter is the target of a bow and arrow drawn in the right margin and aimed upward. The lower border is animated by a hybrid man intent on operating a bellows to make an organ sound. Completing the decoration are elegant ornamental motifs placed at the end of the lines of text.