c 1475 Book of Hours Leaf - Dutch Text - Floral Border

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Original leaf from a medieval manuscript Book of Hours. 17 lines of ruled gothic textura script, written in Dutch with dark brown ink, on animal vellum. (148 x 100mm – 5 ¾ x 4’’) 

Rubrics (headings) in red.  One five-line illuminated initial in burnished gold on pink and blue ground with delicate white penwork; illuminated bar flanks recto text along left margin in burnished gold; top and bottom recto margins are illuminated in a graceful floral and vine design in burnished gold, red, green and blue.                                

Netherlands, c. 1475

The illuminated “I” begins the Office of the Holy Eucharist.

The Dutch (Low Countries) were the first to break the tradition of using Latin in Prayer Books and Books of Hours.  In England, France and Italy, Latin continued to be the primary liturgical language throughout the 1400’s.

Presented in an archival 14 x 11'' mat

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 that could both appreciate and afford them.An attractive and scarce leaf in very nice condition - minor original defect to the vellum in blank lower outer corner margin.

  • Inventory# IM-11691
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