Book of Hours Leaf - c 1450-75 - Te Deum - Beautiful border

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Original leaf from a manuscript Book of Hours. 15 lines of red ruled text written in Latin on animal vellum in brown ink. (184 x 125mm – 7 ¼ x 4 7/8’’) 

One two-line illuminated initial, fifteen one-line illuminated initials and thirteen illuminated line-extenders in burnished gold on red and blue ground with delicate white penwork. The panel borders contain a highly decorative floral design with flowers, berries, and acanthus leaves in blue, red, green, pink, and burnished gold.                                           

France (Anjou), Use of Angers, c. 1450-75.

The two-line illuminated “T” begins the popular hymn of praise – the Te Deum – written in the fourth century: “Te deum laudamus…”  (O God, we praise thee: we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. Everlasting Father, all the earth doth worship thee. To thee all the angels and heavens and all the powers, all the cherubim and seraphim, unceasingly proclaim:  Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts! Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory. The glorious choir of the apostles, the wonderful company of prophets, the white-robed army of martyrs, praise thee. Holy Church throughout the world doth acknowledge thee: the father of infinite majesty…).

Angers was the cradle of the Plantagenet dynasty and one of the intellectual centers of Europe during the reign of Rene of Anjou, (1434-80). When this leaf was scribed the two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty, House of Lancaster & House of York, were engaged in the War of the Roses.

Presented in an archival 14 x 11'' mat

  • Inventory# IM-12515
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