The Vision of the Throne of God and the Twenty-Four Elders

On the left, Saint John peers through a tiny window in the frame into the miniature. The peephole serves as a means of illustrating the visionary character of the scene within the miniature. Here John sees Christ on a throne within a rainbow mandorla. Closely following the visionary text of the Apocalypse (4:1-11), the illuminator included the four living beasts, which support the mandorla, and the twenty-four elders. The elders sit on thrones around Christ, crowned, "clothed in white garments," and playing a variety of stringed instruments. Behind Christ are seven hanging lamps representing the "seven spirits of the Lord."