Original leaf from a medieval manuscript Book of Hours. Red ruled for 33 lines of Latin text in brown ink on animal vellum. (174 x 130mm) .
Major feast days are in red (origin of term ‘red-letter day’). Large ''KL'' initials (for KALENDS) are in blue with a delicate white penwork on red and burnished gold ground.
Panel borders contain an elegant floral motif in blue, red, green violet purple and silver. Nine one-line initials in liquid gold on alternating blue and sepia ground.
Belgium (probably Hainault), c. 1425-50
This leaf contains the calendar for medieval January & February. Among the saints listed are St. Anthony the Abbot (Jan 17th - patron saint of basket makers), St. Sebastian (Jan 20th - patron saint of archers & athletes), St. Vincent of Saragossa ( Jan 22nd - patron saint of wine growers), St. Aldegundis (Jan 30th), St. Valentine (Feb 14th - patron saint of lovers), and St. Matthew the Apostle (patron saint of accountants).
Left of the list of saints’ days are repeating letters A - G called Dominical Letters since they help find Sundays (after many calculations). Far left is a column of Roman numerals i - xix called Golden Numbers to indicate appearances of new moons, & counting ahead 14 days, full moons throughout the year (year + 1; divide by 19; remainder is Golden Number - if zero GN = 19). Finally: each month had 3 fixed points: Kalends (1st day) Ides (middle) & Nones (9th day before Ides). All days in between were counted backwards from these points.
Shipped in archival 14x11'' mat.
