Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

092. MS M.81, fols. 87v–88r

Worksop Bestiary

ca. 1185
England, possibly in Lincoln or York
215 x 155 mm
MS M.81, fols. 87v–88r

Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913) in 1902

Molting Serpent
Beginning a long section on the “nature of serpents,” this miniature illustrates how a snake molts: it sloughs off its skin by scraping its body against the walls of a narrow slit in a rock (or, in this case, gate) as Christians are urged to slough off their sinful selves with Christ’s help.