Book of Hours Leaf - St. Mark - Frog and Snail

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Original leaf from a manuscript Book of Hours. 22 lines of text, ruled in red, written in Latin in gothic book-hand script on animal vellum. (160x103mm) 

Rubrics in red & line ending in red with liquid gold infill. One illuminated two-line initial in white on gold ground.

Northern France, c. 1510-20. 

Elaborate panel borders in geometric shapes with acanthus & floral motifs  and a snail in the right margin and a frog  in the lower margin – all on liquid gold or red ground (recto) & liquid gold & sepia (verso).

Ten-line miniature painting of St. Mark: Mark is shown seated while writing his gospel on a lectern. His attribute the lion watches him from behind the lectern.  

This miniature is by the Master Jean Coene (also known as the Master of the Paris Entries), a prolific artist who was active in Paris for the French court under Louis XII and Francis I, and also collaborated with the workshop of the Master Jean Pichoire. Coene’s quick painting technique and the careful finish of his miniatures led him to be one of the most successful artists for a high-ranking clientele in early sixteenth-century Paris.

The two-line “I” begins The Gospel Lesson from Mark -16: 14-20 which relates Christ’s appearance to the eleven apostles after the Resurrection, his command to preach salvation throughout the world, his granting miraculous powers to them and his Ascension: “In illo…” (At that time, he appeared to the eleven as they were at table…Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature…In my name they shall cast out devils: they shall speak with new tongues…the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand f God…).

Presented in an archival 14x11'' mat

  • Inventory# IM-11350
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