This webpage demonstrates some of the tools used by writers, scriveners, and scribes, both by showing illustrations of them at work , as well as by linking to examples of the tools (ink containers , pens , penners , pen-boxes & writing boxes , and writing-desks ) in museum collections and other websites with related artifacts.
(Penners and inkhorns, inkwells, and other ink containers have been moved to their own linkspages.)
SCRIBES AT WORK & ILLUSTRATIONS WITH WRITING TOOLS
Hugo pictor , Jerome's Commentary on Isaiah (Bodl. 717, fol. 287v), late 11th century
The tower scriptorium Of Tábara : the scribe and illuminator lay out their folios, while a novice trims parchment (PML M.429, fol. 183r), c. 1220
Blanche of Castile and King Louis IX of France and Author Dictating to a Scribe , Moralized Bible (PML M.240, fol. 8), c. 1230
Peter Comestor (fol. 1) and St. John (fol. 192), Bible Historiale (BNF Fr. 155), beginning of the 14th century
A scribe copies from an exemplar , L'Estoire del Saint Graal (British Library MS Royal 14 E III, fol. 6v), c. 1300-1315
Peter Comestor (fol. 1), Moses (fol. 105), and Ezekiel (fol. 224), Bible Historiale (BNF Fr. 156), first half of the 14th century
Jerome (fol. 297v), St. Paul (fol. 484), St. James the Lesser (fol. 498), St. John (fol. 501v), and St. John (fol. 506), Bible Historiale (BNF Fr. 152), 14th century
A man and a woman work as copyists or rubricators , Roman de la Rose (BNF Fr. 25526, fol. 77v), second quarter of the 14th century
Gautier Map in the Death of King Arthur (BNF Fr. 122, fol. 272), 1344
Philosophy , The City of God (BNF Fr. 170, fol. 334v), fourth quarter of the 14th century
Machaut (BNF Fr. 1584, fol. Fv), c. 1377
Tailor in the Liber de Moribus hominum (BNF Fr. 1166, fol. 34), end of the 14th century or beginning of the 15th century (note inkhorn and pencase hanging on belt)
But I, alas, that am of wytte but dulle
And have no knowyng of suche mater
For to discryve and wryte at the fulle
The wofull compleynt which that ye shul here,
But even like as doth a skryvener
That can no more what that he shal write
But as his maister beside dothe endyte
A Complaynte of a Lovers Lyfe , ll. 190-196
St. Matthew (fol. 426), St. Mark (fol. 440), St. Luke (fol. 451), St. John (fol. 478v), St. Paul (fol. 486v), St. James the Lesser (fol. 525), St. John (fol. 529), and St. John (fol. 531), Bible Historiale (BNF Fr. 159), 14th-15th century
Boccaccio (fol. 4v), Herophile (fol. 31), Demophile (fol. 37), and Cornificia (fol. 126), De mulieribus claris (BNF Fr. 598), beginning of the 15th century
St. James the Lesser (fol. 585v; note that the bag is a pilgrim’s scrip ), St. Peter (fol. 586v), St. Peter (fol. 588), St. John (fol. 589), and St. Jude (fol. 591), Bible Historiale (BNF Fr. 10), beginning of the 15th century
Sir John de Mandeville writing , Travels (British Library Add. 24189, fol. 4), c. 1410
Several images in Les cas des nobles hommes et femmes (Bibl. Sainte-Geneviève MS 1128, c. 1425-1449) imagine Boccaccio in the company of the characters he is writing about; see fols. 10v , 14 , 24v , 36 , 44v , 55 , 101 , 105 , 112v , 182v , 187 , 196 , 206 , 223 , 223v , 233 , 260v , 271v , 278v , 283v , 308 , 319 , and 338
Johanes , Mendel Hausbuch (Amb. 317.2, fol. 62r), 1438
A copyist in his workshop from Mare historiarum (BNF Latin 4915, fol. 1), c. 1440-1455
St. Jerome by Jan van Eyck, 1442
St. Martin, St. Barbara, and St. Luke by Stefan Lochner, 1445-1450
A copyist in his workshop , Histoire des nobles princes de Hainaut (BNF Fr. 20127, fol. 2v), mid-15th century
Scribal apprenticeship , Facta et dicta memorabilia (BNF Fr. 287, fol. 1), second part of the 15th century
A scribe and his apprentice , Chroniques de Hainault (BNF Fr. 20128, fol. 1), c. 1450-1475
Laurent de Premierfait writes a translation in The Decameron (BNF Fr. 129, fol. 4), third quarter of the 15th century
Boccaccio , De casibus (BNF Fr. 130, fol. 233v), third quarter of the 15th century
St. Jerome (fol. 2r) and Jean Miélot (fol. 19r), Vie et miracles de Notre Dame (BNF Fr. 9198), 1456
The author Titus Livius (or the translator Pierre Bersuire?) at work , Ab urbe condita (BNF Fr. 273, fol. 7), c. 1475
Vincent de Beauvais at his desk , Speculum Historiale (British Library Royal 14 E I, fol. 3), late 15th century
Flavius Josephus in The Wars of the Jews (BNF Fr. 15, fol. 41v), fourth quarter of the 15th century
St. Matthew , St. Luke , and St. John by Gabriel Mälesskircher, 1478
St. Augustine by Sandro Botticelli, 1480
St. Jerome in his Study (detail ) by Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1480
Good images of inkhorn and penner in a Portrait of a young man , early 1480s; for more heart-shaped books, see this 15th century book of hours , the Chansonnier of Jean de Montchenu (chansonnier cordiforme ), this 1580 prayerbook for Anna, wife of Elector Augustus , etc.
St. Jerome in his scriptorium , c. 1480-1490
The author writing his book , Le Roman de la rose (British Library, Harley 4425, fol. 133), c. 1490-1500
Inkhorn and penner of St. Ambrosius , from an altarpiece at Kremsmünster, c. 1490-1500
An inkhorn and penner in 12-Year-Old Jesus in the Temple (part of the altarpiece at the Church of St. Nicholas in Presov, Slovakia)
Inkhorn, penner, and writing-slope of St. Jerome by Georg Stäber, c. 1495-1500
Carmenta , De mulieribus claris (BNF Fr. 599, fol. 22v), 15th-16th century
Ovid's Heroides (BNF Fr. 873), 15th-16th century: Oenone (fol. 27v), Hypsipyle (fol. 35v), Dido (fol. 42v), Canace (fol. 68v), Medea (fol. 74v), Hypermestra (fol. 90v), Helen (fol. 106v), Hero (fol. 125v), Acontius (fol. 133v), Cydippe (fol. 140v)
Vision of St. Augustine by Vittore Carpaccio, 1502
An inkhorn and penner in Jesus praying at the Mount of Olives from an altarpiece at Passau, c. 1510-1515
St. Jerome in his Study by Albrecht Dürer, 1511
St. Gregory (an open penner next to his inkhorn) from an altarpiece at Grades, Austria, c. 1515-1520
Signboard for the schoolmaster Myconius by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1516
Signboard for the schoolmaster Myconius by Ambrosius Holbein, 1516
Portrait of Erasmus by Quentin Massys, 1517
A good view of an inkhorn, penner, and pen in a painting of a girl writing , c. 1520
Saint Paul Writing by Pier Francesco Sacchi, 1520s
Portrait of Erasmus by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1523
St. Mary Magdalene , first half of the 16th century
Portrait of Sir Thomas Godsalve and his son John (detail ) by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1528
Portrait of Georg Gisze by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1532
Portrait of Dirk Tybis by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1533
Portrait of Thomas Cromwell by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1533
Vlrich Huber makes inkhorns and penners, Mendel Hausbuch (Amb. 317.2, fol. 153v), 1535
Self-portrait of Romanino , 1535-1540
The Tax Collectors by Marinus van Reymerswale
The Tax Collectors by Marinus van Reymerswale
A good view of an inkhorn, penner, and pen in Two Tax Gatherers by Marinus van Reymerswaele, c. 1540
Self-portrait of Simon Bening , 1550s
The scribes' room in the Schwazer Bergbuch (Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum Cod. Dipl. 856, fol. 121v), 1556
The scribes' room in the Schwazer Bergbuch (ÖNB 10852, fol. 85v), 1561; another scribe (fol. 114v)
Peter Schmid makes inkwells, Landauer Hausbuch (Amb. 279.2, fol. 45v), 1565
Taddeo in the Sistine Chapel Drawing Michelangelo's 'Last Judgment' and Taddeo in the Belvedere Court in the Vatican, Drawing the Laocoön by Federico Zuccaro, c. 1590
Selection of writing tools, 16th-17th century , including a turned wood pounce pot, an inkwell, an hour glass , and a modern reproduction of a 16th century letter
Portrait of Sir Thomas Overbury , 1613
PENS
PEN BOXES
A Fatimid carved ebony and ivory penbox with bronze mounts , Egypt or Sicily, c. 12th century
Pen box , inlaid with a verse from the Qur'an and symbols of the planets and the zodiac, Mosul, northern Iraq, c. 1230-1250
Pen box , brass inlaid with gold and silver, 13th century western Iran or northern Iraq
Pen box in cast brass decorated with astrological scenes, western Iran, 1281
WRITING DESKS