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, in dark brown ink in gothic book-hand script on animal vellum. (127 x 92mm)
Two two-line illuminated initials in burnished gold on blue & pink ground extending into the margin with a delicate rinceaux design in burnished gold, red & blue.
Northern France (Paris), c. 1420-30.
The two-line illuminated ''D'' begins: ''Deus...'' (O God who after a marvelous order didst dispose the ministries of angels and of men: grant in thy mercy that our life may be defended on earth by them who stand forever before thee and minister unto thee in Heaven).
The two-line illuminated ''A'' begins a Prayer to the Holy Trinity: ''Adorote deum...'' (I worship thee, God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost: one God, equal in glory, coeternal in sovereignty. Thou art the true God: and no other is before thee. Thou art to be adored: to be revered, to be dreaded, and to be venerated in trinity and unity. Thou art ruler of all peoples and savior of men...).
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.
Presented in an archival 14x11'' mat