On the right, a man is hunched over a bag; doubtless it contains seeds for sowing. In the background, a shepherd is accompanied by his sheepdog. The Chateau de Lusignan, in the Poiteau region of France, dominates the scene. The castle was modernised by the Duc de Berry, its owner. To the right of the image, above one of the towers, flies a winged dragon representing the fairy Melusine. In 1392, Jean d’Arras wrote the Noble histoire de Lusignan, also known as the Roman de Mélusine, for Jean de Berry. It is the story of the fairy, an imaginary ancestor of the Duc de Berry. According to legend, Mélusine gave birth to the Lusignan bloodline and built the fortress. The wife of Raymondin de Lusignan, she promised him wealth and happiness, on the condition that he must never see her on Saturdays, when she took on the appearance of a dragon. One day, Raymondin broke his promise and watched his wife bathing. Thus unmasked, the fairy fled.

A Book of Hours is a liturgical book aimed at Catholic laymen – unlike a breviary, written for clerics – which allows the reader to follow the liturgy of the Hours. In addition to prayers written for every hour of the day, the Book of Hours usually includes a calendar which follows the evolution of the liturgy throughout the year. It was the most popular type of illuminated document, though not all manuscripts were illustrated. Such documents provide important information about life at the end of the Middle Ages and are a source of Medieval Christian iconography.

During the Middle Ages, vines surrounded towns and cities almost regardless of climate. This proximity was doubtless a means of avoiding transporting the wine, which was subject to heavy taxes and the various hazards of the period. People only drank wine produced in their local area. Anything was preferable to water! Viticulture is very widely represented in illuminations – the only iconography of the time to show genre scenes.