Mira calligraphiae monumenta
Mira calligraphiae monumenta is a late sixteenth-century manuscript of calligraphic exemplars and decorative pages, produced in 1561 and held by the J. Paul Getty Museum. Its pages pair elaborate penwork flourishes and inscribed lettering with hand-painted natural history: flowers, fruit, insects, mushrooms, and tomatoes rendered in watercolour and gouache. A designer might borrow the interplay of ornamental scrollwork, tight calligraphic script, and botanically precise colour studies.
