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, written with dark brown ink in gothic book-hand script on animal vellum. (127 x 92mm).
One two-line illuminated initial in burnished gold on blue and pink ground extending into the margin with a delicate rinceaux design in burnished gold, red and blue; ten one-line illuminated initials alternating in blue with delicate red penwork and burnished gold with delicate blue penwork.
Northern France (Paris), c. 1420-30.
The two-line illuminated ''M'' begins the Magnificat - Luke 1:46-55: ''Magnificat...'' (My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Because he that is mighty , hath done great things to me; and holy is his name. And his mercy if from generation unto generations, to them that fear him...).
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.
Shipped in archival 14x11'' mat
