Original leaf from a medieval manuscript Book of Hours. 15 lines of red-ruled text, written in French with dark brown ink in gothic script on animal vellum. (107 x 123mm ).
Nineteen illuminated one-line initials and eleven illuminated line extenders in burnished gold, on blue and red ground. The panel borders (both sides) contain a highly decorative floral design with flowers, berries & acanthus leaves in blue, red, green, pink, and burnished gold.
The dimensions of this book were very unusual - nearly square - but appears to be untrimmed since the three exposed edges of the leaf are gilded.
France (probably Loire Valley), c. 1450-75.
The text contains a prayer in medieval French.
Books of Hours are personal prayer books of a devout and status-conscious society and are not only works of art, but cultural documents of their time. They reveal a unique combination of sacred and secular imagery - made of the finest materials, by the best craftsmen, for a small audience that could both appreciate and afford them.
Shipped in archival 14x11'' mat.
