Medieval Book of Hours Leaf - beautiful rinceaux borders

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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) 

Two two-line illuminated initials in burnished gold on blue and pink ground extending into the margin with a delicate rinceaux design in burnished gold, red and blue; seven 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 one-line illuminated ''Q'' begins Psalm 56 (King James 57) 11-12: ''Quoniam...'' (For thy mercy is magnified even to the heavens:  & thy truth unto the clouds.  Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: & thy glory above all the earth). 

The two-line illuminated ''V'' begins Hebrews 2:9: ''Videmus...'' (We see Jesus for the suffering of death, crowned with glory & honor: that, through the grace of God, he might taste death for all).

The two-line illuminated ''Q'' begins the hymn:  ''Qui...'' (Who untied, when thou died, the bonds of sin and Satan's thrall; Gently tend us, quiet sent us O Jesus virgins' coronal...).   

This attractive leaf was written and illuminated in France at a pivotal point in the Hundred Year’s War - England defeated France decisively in Agincourt in 1415 and took Paris in 1420.  Not until Joan of Arc’s heroism (1428-29) could France regain hope of restoring its capital.  The book from which this came was likely in daily use at that time.

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

  • Inventory# IM-10598
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