The Sable Scrivener is an award for excellence and service in the field of Calligraphy and Illumination, in particular by doing scrolls for court, to the Crown of An Tir. There is a special tradition that goes along with this award; a Sable Scrivener award is only done by another Sable Scrivener, thus making the award itself very special to the recipient. The scroll is expected to be an example of the best work of the scribe that is doing the scroll, rather than being tailored to the persona of the recipient - another unusual factor in the design.

This scroll was done with in a late gothic manuscript style, using penwork illumination based on the Hours of Catherine of Cleves, a book historically dated to 1440. The text utilized a gothic blackhand as the calligraphy font. The hand is specifically of the secretarial (formal) style rather than the more legible bookhand, so that it would match the ornamentation.

The illumination style is that of the manuscript, with intricate penwork a round the four edges and even smaller penwork in blue around the capitals. A larger pen was used for the base on the edging; the same smaller nib was used for detailing the edging in black, and for the blue penwork of the capitals. Figures were inserted into the penwork as per the original. They depict, from top of the page clockwise, an angel holding the populace badge of the kingdom of An Tir; the badge of the An Tir scribes' college; the figure of the recipient with quill in hand and an appropriate motto; a set of knights chasing a scribe as he escapes, depicting the words of the adage.

This is the template page from which I drew inspiration for the scroll: