Original continuous bifolium leaves (four pages – two leaves) from a printed & hand-illuminated Book of Hours. Twenty-eight lines of ruled Latin text, printed in red & black on animal vellum. (Each: 178 x 115mm – 7 x 4 ½’’)
Numerous one and two-line illuminated initials in gold alternating on a red-orange or deep blue ground.
Printed by Gilles Hardouyn & hand-painted in the workshop of Germain Hardouyn - brother of the printer & a highly skilled illuminator. Paris (Use of Rome), c. 1518.
Noted for its DECORATIVE BORDERS - the paneled surrounds are historiated (containing identifiable scenes or figures) or inhabited forms.
The illuminated “K” begins the Litany of the Saints (first prescribed by Pope Gregory in 590 for a public thanksgiving following a plague that ravaged Rome): “Kyrie…” (Lord have mercy upon us…). Names of saints are listed with each invocation followed by the abbreviation for “ora pro nobis” (Pray for us).
Among the saints listed are: Sts. Michael (patron of battles), Andrew (patron of fisherman), Thomas (patron of architects), Gregory (patron of musicians), Nicholas (patron of children), Katherine (patron of preachers), and Apollonia (patron of dentists).
Presented in an archival 11 x 14'' mat
