Original leaf from a medieval manuscript Book of Hours. 15 lines of red-ruled, Latin text, written with dark brown ink in lettre batarde script on animal vellum.(125x85mm)
One three-line illuminated initial in blue on a burnished gold ground with a floral interior design in red and blue; one two-line illuminated initial in blue with delicate white tracery on a burnished gold ground, having a floral interior in pink and green on burnished gold ground. Panel border contains highly decorative floral designs with berries and acanthus leaves in blue, pink, green, orange and brushed and burnished gold.
Northern France (Brittany?), c. 1450-60.
Miniature painting (68x45mm) of The Funeral Service: A catafalque, with a blue pall crisscrossed with gold on black fabric is in the center of the painting; four lit tapers in gold candlesticks on each side of pall; on left are three hooded mourners; the priest has turned from altar with hands clasped facing two clerics kneeling - all three wearing black and gold robes.
The border surrounding the miniature contains highly decorative floral designs in multiple colors and burnished gold with a snail and a drollery emerging from a flower in the lower margin, and the bust of a monk reading from a book in the right margin.
The three-line illuminated "P" begins: "Pro..." (For the faithful departed, eternal rest. Eternal rest grant unto them and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace).
Presented in an archival 14x11'' mat
