recto: Initial D with the Adoration of the Magi. -This initial marks the beginning the Introit for the feast of the Epiphany, 'Ecce aduenit dominator dominus ...' (Behold the Lord the Ruler is come). A mistake was made at some point in the design of the manuscript because the illuminated initial is inexplicably different from the first letter of the Introit. It was illuminated by the First Master of the Choir books of the Cathedral of Siena, an anonymous artist active in Siena in the last quarter of the thirteenth century.
verso: This image shows the reverse of a leaf with an historiated initial from a gradual. This side of the leaf, the true verso, continues the Introit for the feast of the Epiphany, which begins on the front.