Original leaf from a medieval manuscript Book of Hours, with illuminations by a Master of the Boucicaut School. 15 lines of red-ruled, Latin text, written with dark brown ink in gothic book-hand script on animal vellum. (127 x 92mm).
Two two-line illuminated initials in burnished gold on blue and pink ground extending into the margin with a delicate rinceaux design in burnished gold, red and blue; four one-line illuminated initials alternating in blue with delicate red penwork and burnished gold with delicate blue penwork.
Northern France (Paris), c. 1420-30.
The two-line illuminated ''N'' begins The Canticle of Simeon - Luke 2:29-32: ''Nunc...'' (Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace; Because my eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples. A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel). The two-line illuminated ''D'' begins a hymn: ''Domine...'' (O Lord Jesus Christ, who at the final hour...).
Provenance: Sotheby's - ex G. Barilla of Geneva, and formerly Frederick Fowler collection (England c. 1820's).
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, which could both appreciate and afford them.
Shipped in archival 14x11'' mat
