The Chi Rho Monogram

Name: The Chi Rho Monogram
Brand: The Scriptorium
SKU: PA-00900

Unknown Insular scribe-artists (traditionally associated with the community of Columba, Iona and Kells), c. 800 AD

Display only

No print size passed the check for this piece: at 8 x 10 in, Wrong shape: a 10% crop. We would rather show it than sell a soft print.

See pieces like it you can buy

Three Greek letters — Χ Ρ Ι, the opening of Christi in Matthew's account of the Nativity — dilate to fill an entire folio, their strokes packed with spirals, interlace, otters, moths, and a pair of mice fighting over a Eucharistic wafer. No other page in the manuscript received this density of attention; the scribes clearly understood they were illuminating not just a word but the Incarnation itself. Look for the tiny angels emerging from the vertical stroke of the Chi, barely visible at a glance — devotional ornament meant to rewards a monk's slow, contemplative gaze, not a passing look. The Book of Kells is famous for its color without true gold leaf: its glowing yellow comes from orpiment, a mineral pigment, made to read as gold in candlelight. This page is why the manuscript is called, simply, the chief relic of the western world.

Maker: Unknown Insular scribe-artists (traditionally associated with the community of Columba, Iona and Kells)
Date: c. 800 AD
Medium of the original: Illuminated manuscript
Original held by: Trinity College Dublin
Credit: Trinity College Dublin
Rights: Public domain, verified
Catalogue number: PA-00900

Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.

How the print check works

Sizes withheld
Size	Why
8 x 10 in	Wrong shape: a 10% crop
8 x 12 in	124 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
11 x 14 in	97 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
12 x 16 in	89 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
12 x 18 in	83 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
16 x 20 in	Wrong shape: a 10% crop
16 x 24 in	62 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
18 x 24 in	59 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
20 x 30 in	49 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
24 x 30 in	Wrong shape: a 10% crop
24 x 36 in	41 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
30 x 40 in	35 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
36 x 48 in	29 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
40 x 60 in	24 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged