This scroll is actually a backlog of sorts. My husband (then fiancé), Johannes, was being awarded a Purple Fret back in March, 2003. I was assigned his scroll and remember staying up until the wee-hours trying to get it finished on time. It was handed in and presented in court. Unfortunately, Johannes was unable to attend the event and someone else picked up the award. Long story short, the scroll was never found. Somehow it got lost or destroyed, but never found its way to Johannes. And, of course thinking I would be seeing it real soon and being crunched for time anyway, I didn't bother making a copy or scanning it. It was gone.
So, over three years later and with the diligent help of my good friend, Akiko, the award was re-made and re-presented ... this time I made sure Johannes was in attendance to accept the award. I made this version of his award different from the last. I decided I wanted to do something different, so I chose Les Grandes Chroniqes de France, a mid-15th century French manuscript containing beautiful architectural detail. The particular building you see in this scroll is taken from a page titled The Dream of Charles the Bold. There are touches of gold leaf throughout which, surprisingly, turned out very well (well for me...but I still need work in this area). For the most part, the gold went on smoother than normal and stayed on.
A warm thank you to TRH's Bardolph and Brigh for presenting this scroll in their court at the Middle Kingdom Academy of Defense event (Shire of Ravenslake - IL). I would like to thank Akiko again for all her time and research to try and locate the original scroll and then to get this scroll sealed and presented in court. A big thanks, too, for her photo of this scroll (which you are currently viewing). She was also extremely kind to supply the parchment (goat's skin), which gave the scroll a bit more personality and was just too cool to work with. Her generous spirit and kindness is such a gift to both myself and Johannes.
Calligraphy is modified gothic textura quadrata. I completed this scroll on August 31, 2006.
