Original leaf from a scarce medieval manuscript Book of Hours. 19 lines of text, ruled in red, written in Dutch with dark brown and red ink in gothic script on animal vellum. (170 x 120mm – 6 ¾ x 4 ¾ ’’)
Thirty-eight one-line illuminated initials alternating in deep blue and red.
The Netherlands, c. 1460.
The illuminated “O” continues the Litany of the Saints (first prescribed by Pope Gregory in 590 for a public thanksgiving following a plague that ravaged Rome) The leaf lists the names of saints with each invocation followed by the abbreviation for “bid voor ons” (Pray for us).
Among the saints listed are: Sts. John, Peter, Sebastian, Lambert, Nicholas, Gregory, Ambrose, and Leo.
Books of Hours are personal prayer books of a devout, status-conscious society. They are both works of art & cultural documents of their time. They are made of the finest materials, by the best craftsmen, for a small audience that could both appreciate and afford them. The Dutch (Low Countries) were the first to break the tradition of using Latin in Prayer Books and Books of Hours. In England, France and Italy, Latin continued to be the primary liturgical language throughout the 1400’s.
Presented in an archival 14x11'' mat
