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. Two illuminated two-line initials alternating in white on gold ground and gold on blue ground.
Northern France, c. 1510-20.
Elaborate panel borders with acanthus & floral motifs on liquid gold or red ground.
Nine-line miniature painting of St. Anthony: A bearded St. Anthony is shown seated facing right while reading a book in his left hand. His attribute, a pig, looks up at him with one hoof on lap, gold staff in right hand. In the background is a monastery and trees.
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 “A” begins: “Anthoni...” (Renowned shepherd Anthony, who restoreth the crucified, and destroyeth healthful maladies, and quencheth the heat of the fire, O holy father, pray to the Lord on behalf of us unhappy ones. Pray for us, blessed father Anthony. That we be made worthy. O God, who granteth by the intercession of blessed Anthony thy confessor that the fire of illness be quenched and coolness be present for sick limbs, make us, we beseech, by his favors and prayers free from the fires of hell, and cause us to be presented whole in mind and body to thee happily in glory…).
Presented in an archival 14x11'' mat
