Dominican Missal, c. 1300, Unknown, German, 12 3/8 x 9 1/16 in. (31.43 x 23.02 cm) (image)13 × 9 1/4 × 4 in. (33.02 × 23.5 × 10.16 cm) (closed), Tempera and gold on parchment, Germany, 13th-14th century, Crucifixion scenes are among the few painted miniatures typically found in missals, the books that guide priests celebrating Catholic Mass. This exquisite Crucifixion appears at the start of the canon, the most solemn part of the Mass. The pen-flourished initials C and M on the facing page are enhanced with fine linear embellishments in red and blue. The rest of the text is written in a late-medieval script called littera textualis, which emphasizes the word unit rather than single letters.