Original leaf from a medieval manuscript Book of Hours. 15 lines of red-ruled French text, in dark brown ink, on animal vellum. (197 x 138mm)
Three two-line illuminated initials alternating in blue & red with delicate white penwork & an interior floral design in red, blue & orange on burnished gold ground - two into margin with a rinceaux floral motive in burnished gold & blue; three one-line illuminated initials & four illuminated line-extenders in burnished gold on red & blue ground with delicate white penwork.
Text is surrounded on 3 sides with an elegant rinceaux panel border in a delicate floral motif with ivy leaves in red, blue, green, orange & burnished gold, and illuminated bar extends beyond the length of the text in red, blue & burnished gold.
Northern France (Paris), c. 1420-40.
This leaf begins a popular 15th century prayer found in most Books of Hours: the Seven Requests to our Lord. The prayer seeks God's pity by reminding Him of those times or of those people upon which or on whom He bestowed His kindness: At the Annunciation, the Incarnation, on his disciples, on Peter at his denial, on the women on the road to Calvary, on the Virgin & John at the foot of the cross, and on the Good Thief. Each two-line illuminated ''B'' begins: ''Beaux sire dieux'' (Beautiful Lord God...).
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
