A single folio divided into quarters, each holding one of the four winged symbols the Church assigned to the Evangelists: the man of Matthew, the lion of Mark, the calf of Luke, the eagle of John. Pope Gregory the Great had linked the set to the life of Christ himself — man at his birth, calf in his sacrificial death, lion in his resurrection, eagle in his ascension — so that this single page, before a word of Gospel text has been read, already narrates the whole of the Christian story in symbol. The Book of Kells contains four such symbol pages, no two alike; this one, prefacing Matthew, is the most tightly organized of them, each beast held in its own carpet-like frame of interlace. It is a table of contents rendered as icon.

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-00902

As chosen: 8 x 10 in, art print, classic frame
Picture	8 x 10 in
Outside size	9.6 x 11.6 in
Depth	0.9 in (22 mm)
Weight	[[REAL PROOF NEEDED: shipped weight per size and frame]]
Hanging	[[REAL PROOF NEEDED: hanging hardware Prodigi fits to this frame]]
Material	Enhanced matte art paper, 200 gsm; acrylic glazing
Made in	Charlotte, North Carolina, by Prodigi

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 offered
Size	dpi	Grade	How it fits
8 x 10 in	170	Good	Trimmed 2.2%

Sizes withheld
Size	Why
8 x 12 in	Wrong shape: a 18% crop
11 x 14 in	121 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
12 x 16 in	106 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
12 x 18 in	Wrong shape: a 18% crop
16 x 20 in	85 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
16 x 24 in	Wrong shape: a 18% crop
18 x 24 in	70 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
20 x 30 in	Wrong shape: a 18% crop
24 x 30 in	56 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
24 x 36 in	Wrong shape: a 18% crop
30 x 40 in	42 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
36 x 48 in	35 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
40 x 60 in	Wrong shape: a 18% crop

Scanned: 2026-10-07
Master file: 1,390 x 1,700 px, srgb
Tone: Darks 56, lights 171 of 255; 0.1% clipped light, 0% clipped dark
Colour: 0% vivid
Sharpness: 4.31