Book of Kells

Book of Kells, around 800, Old Library, Trinity College Dublin. Folio 34r, the Chi Rho page, is the best-known page in all of Insular art. The giant X and P are the Greek monogram of Christ, opening Matthew's account of the Nativity, and they swallow almost the whole page. The real pleasure is in the small things. Near the foot of the page an otter holds a fish in its jaws, and just to its right two cats watch mice nibbling at a round Communion wafer, while moths hide under the upper left arm of the X.