13th Century Flying Fish Tattoo

Recently I have been invited to give a presentation at a conference on illuminated manuscripts in Philadelphia this Fall. As a result I have been perusing their archives and this is the first image I have tattooed from a book in their library. In a 13th century French Bible this tiny winged fish flies across the top of a page of Ecclesiastes. Illuminated manuscripts often have drolleries, little illustrations in the margins placed there by the monks creating the books. The Bible this especially charming one is in is part of the collection of medieval manuscripts at the University of Pennsylvania.

13th Century Flying Fish Tattoo by Pat Fish

To see more examples of tattoos taken from historical books, check out my ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT TATTOOS PAGE.

And visit the CELTIC LETTER TATTOOS page at LuckyFishArt.com for illuminated letters from Celtic manuscripts.