Original leaf from a richly illuminated manuscript Psalter/Prayer-book. 22-24 lines of Latin text. Written in unusual gothic cursive script on animal vellum.(165x135mm) (For sister leaves see The Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations, The Cleveland Museum of Art).
North Germany, (Hildesheim?) c. 1524.
Six three-line initials in gold or silver on red, blue, gray or sepia ground with silver or gold tracery.
Elaborate panel borders with full gold ground strewn with diverse floral motifs – including two burghers sprouting from flowers and (verso) a jester carrying a cat!
The illuminated ''E'' begins Matthew 11:10: ''Ecce ego…'' (Behold I send my angel before thy face who shall prepare thy way before thee…)
This highly personalized prayer-book was written and illuminated in Germany, as evidenced by the painted Arms of Mansfeld (a prominent North German family) on a leaf, and the inclusion of St. Godehard (d. 1038), bishop of Hildesheim, portrayed as a miniature on another leaf. The date 1524 occurs in two locations in the prayer-book.
Shipped in archival 14x11'' mat.
